Doha, January 26 (QNA) - Qatar Rehabilitation Institute (QRI) has opened its first wellness clinic dedicated for the elderly in Qatar. The new clinic is a preventive medicine clinic aimed at providing integrated medical, rehabilitation and psychological care for the elderly within the framework of the healthy aging priority under the National Health Strategy 2018-2022.
The Elderly Wellness Clinic includes a consultant in the specialty of Community Medicine and Preventive Medicine, a consultant of Internal Medicine for the elderly, a physiotherapist and a Dietician, in addition to a nursing team specialized in the field of elderly health. The clinic receives patients referred thereto from the age of sixty and over; males and females on Mondays every week, the days per week shall increase upon expansion of the clinic in the future.
Dr. Hanadi Al Hamad, Qatar's National Health Strategy lead for Healthy Ageing and Medical Director of Qatar Rehabilitation Institute, said: "As part of the ongoing efforts to develop specialized care for the growing segment of the elderly population in Qatar, an Elderly Wellness Clinic has been opened, which provides the necessary health care for this category to help them improve their lifestyle so that the elderly can enjoy their life better in terms of health, psychological and physical aspects and with development of the health care in the State. The elderly category continues to grow and increase as an important segment of the society, which requires health care providers to develop specialized preventive and treatment programs that deal with the chronic health problems associated with the elderly that have become more widespread, such as weakness or frailty, dementia, musculoskeletal mass atrophy, difficulty of movement and falling".
Dr. Hanadi added, "dealing with these health problems is one of the greatest challenges at this period of time, so it is important to open a Wellness Clinic to provide best health care for the elderly as well as to enhance the expertise of healthcare providers for the elderly." Dr. Noura Al Kaabi- Community Medicine Consultant at Hamad Medical Corporation and Head of the Elderly Wellness Clinic, explained that the availability of multidisciplinary teams to provide assessment for elderly patients at QRI has contributed to the opening of the Wellness Clinic. Where the condition of each visitor of the clinic is evaluated in a comprehensive manner in terms of health, psychological, physical and rehabilitative aspects. Then a special preventive and treatment program is designed for each visitor to solve his health problems on one hand and it also helps them to promote a better healthy lifestyle that ensures the elderly live old age far from health problems and avoid effects of the chronic diseases.
In the same context Dr. Biju Bhaskaran, Consultant of Internal Medicine and Geriatrics at QRI pointed out that the clinic provides follow-up care for elderly patients with a variety of previously diagnosed health conditions, such as strokes renal disease, cognitive impairments, diabetes, hypertension and obesity. Also early detection examinations necessary for this age group are carried out, such as early examination for bowel and colon cancer, and osteoporosis examination, in addition to that we care about giving the visitors all necessary vaccinations for this age group being among the most vulnerable groups to diseases such as the seasonal influenza vaccination and the pneumococcal vaccine.
Currently the clinic operates on the medical referral system from Hamad Medical Corporation facilities, while in the future the clinic will receive patients referred thereto from the Primary Health Care Clinics. The patient can also book a new appointment themselves through the Appointments Department. The service is available within the Outpatient Department of Qatar Rehabilitation institute on a weekly basis. (QNA)