1,300 emergency patients handled everyday at Salmaniya Medical Complex

TDT | Manama       

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

Staff Reporter

The Accident and Emergency Department at Salmaniya Medical Complex receives 1,300 patients everyday, according to a study conducted by the Ministry of Health. This comes amidst an ongoing project to upgrade the Accident and Emergency Department, where the capacity will be raised from the current 80 beds to 123 beds.

The study found that the patient satisfaction at the Accident and Emergency Department stood at 80 per cent, highlighting the great infrastructure, facilities and services offered. As part of upgrading initiatives, five new rooms will be created at the department for receiving patients; eight rooms to deal with non-urgent cases and three rooms exclusively for offering initial treatments.

This is other than expanding the patient waiting area to accommodate over 120 patients. A new pharmacy will also be established as part of the ongoing initiative. The study also found that doctors and other staff in the emergency department are paid a higher salary compared to others.

A special team was recently constituted at SMC to handle accident and emergency cases Dr Ahmed Al Ansari, the Chief Executive Officer of Government Hospitals, said the initiative is part of the policy being implemented across public health institutions to upgrade the existing health system in the Kingdom and is also aimed at improving the overall treatment experience of both citizens and residents.

The official said that the initiative is based on the directives of His Royal Highness Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, the Crown Prince and Prime Minister to implement the goals of sustainable development, in which the health of individuals is a top priority.

“The team aims to provide the highest levels of support and care in the Accident and Emergency Department in order to manage the medical needs of all patients and improve workflow, in addition to providing direct assistance to patients.

“Every patient has to access the best treatment facilities and teams of doctors and nurses will be offering the best of services in line with the Kingdom’s health policies. “Special teams will submit monthly reports related to the problems of the Accident and Emergency Department about its functioning and efficiently before authorities concerned.”

SMC has a busy Accident and Emergency department , which are intended to help people who have had trauma or acute surgical or medical problems. The Emergency Medical Services was developed in 1985 within the Department of Accident and Emergency at Salmaniya Medical Center to provide pre-hospital emergency medical care services to the sick and injured patients by Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT), paramedics during transportation to the hospital.

According to the Health Ministry, accident and emergency services are expanding rapidly as the population and the need for such services grow. The hospital provides two types of ambulance services differentiated by nature of calls at science of accidental injury or sudden illness and during transportation to the medical facilities.

Acute emergency cases handled at the hospital include road traffic accidents, cardiac cases, acute respiratory conditions, all trauma cases, burns cases, psychiatry cases and neonatal care.