​The Public Works Authority (Ashghal) announces completion of the main works of Al Khor Health Center, executed by the Building Projects Department to serve about 600 visitors per day, as part of the state's plan for developing health services.

Al Khor Health Centre is located on an area of 25,000 Sq. m, comprising a two-level main building that includes 40 clinics, along with other health facilities such as a lab, a pharmacy, a spa, a gym, besides other annexes like a mosque, a building for support services, a garage for ambulances, and 297 parking slots.

On his part, Eng Ahmed Al Mahmeed, Project Manager of Al Khor Health Center, says that all works in the project are implemented as per local specifications and international standards, and it has achieved more than a million and a half man-hours of lost time injuries so far, and that Ashghal provides all safety measures for workers in the project.

He added saying, “Ashghal began implementing the works of Al Khor Health Center project in October 2018 and it is expected that all works will be completed despite the challenges faced during the Corona pandemic.”

He continued, "Within the framework of the government’s support for local products, almost 60% of the materials used in the project will be of locally supplied including steel, electrical and mechanical tools, glass and other materials."

The services covered in the main building are as follows:

Ground Floor:

•  Pharmacy (6 distribution outlets and stores)
•  General Clinics (18 clinical rooms)
•  Women's Clinics (general clinics rooms, 2 maternity clinics, 2 well-baby rooms)
•  Outpatient clinics (2 observation rooms, 2 treatment rooms, 2 blood sampling rooms, biometrics rooms, isolation room)
•  Radiology department (x-ray room, mammogram room, panorama ray room, ultrasound room)
•  Ladies prayer room

First Floor:

•  Specialist clinics (2 ophthalmology clinics, 2 audiometry clinics, ENT). 
•  Dental Clinics (10 dental clinics, one dental care study center)
•  Laboratory 
•  Training room
•  Nutrition and dieting teaching room
•  Multipurpose hall
•  Public services 

Annex Buildings

•  Swimming and Spa with its annexes and a gym
•  Mosque and its annexes
•  Support services building
•  Guards building, rooms for monitoring workers
•  Electrical and mechanical maintenance center
•  Private garage for ambulances
•  297 car parking slots

Distinct Designs

Facilities for people with special needs

On her part, Eng. Sara Al Salhi, Building Projects Department at Ashghal,  said that the project design has considered requirements of people with special needs including signages, illustrations and Braille script, comfortable toilets, wide walkways for easy movement, auto-sensor doors, and reception desks with convenient height besides car parking spaces close to the main entrances and ramps in place of steps.

Heritage and Sustainability

The buildings design also reflects the heritage and culture of Qatar without compromising international standards of safety for firefighting, besides 3-star rated GSAS environment standard. Another important design feature of the architectural design of the health center is inclusion of next generation technologies in the field of medical equipment and GSAS, she added.

It is worth mentioning that all criteria were also set by Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) since operational and architectural considerations were taken to accomplish a 3-star environmental level in terms of energy saving and environment preservation, including:

• Using solar energy for in-house water heating
• Using natural sunlight through panoramic roof windows, allowing sun light in to save a quite bit of electricity which is used in lights and to disinfect the place.
• Rational consumption of water inside and outside the building
• Growing green areas and landscapes around the facility.
• Preserving the environment around during the implementation of the project

Ashghal bagged two Sustainability Awards (2016) in health and education facilities by the Gulf Organization for Research and Development “GORD”, the leading organisation related to performance-based system of GSAS implementation and development in the MENA region. Over the past years, GORD examined the designs of building projects –educational and health buildings - and conducted site visits to Ashghal’s projects to verify that the projects match GSAS standards.

It is worth noting that Ashghal implemented six new health projects in 2018, including construction of five new health centers, namely Al Khor Health Center, Al Wakra South Health Center, Al Sadd Health Center, Al Mashaf Health Center and Ain Khaled Health Center, with total capacity to serve about 3500 visitors daily, besides building the National Health Laboratories building, bringing the total value of the six projects to about One Billion Qatar Riyals.

The new projects come as a realization of Qatar Vision 2030, which is the basis of Ashghal strategy to provide integrated infrastructure and public utilities that serve all sectors in the country, especially health sector, as Ashghal has implemented about 24 health facilities during 2004 to 2021.

It is worth to mention that health facility projects occupy a major chunk of building projects implemented by the Public Works Authority (Ashghal) in cooperation and coordination with health care sector entities represented by the Ministry of Public Health. Notably, the primary health care sector has recently witnessed major developments through opening of several modern health centers, first of its kind in Qatar in terms of the development of services provided and its vast construction areas to accommodate large numbers of patients and visitors, and thus delivering quality improved medical services to patients.