NPH strategy, launching this month, set to bring the accident graph down

The National Public Health Strategy 2017-2022 will be launched this month, a top official from the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) told the Gulf Times on Friday.

“We expect it to be launched on June 19,” said Dr. Sheikh Mohamed bin Hamad Al Thani, Director of Public Health, on the sidelines of the workers’ health camp held at the Medical Commission.

“The new strategy, which will also support occupational health, aims at lowering accidents by 3% every year for the next six years. This will significantly ensure the safety of the workers at the workplaces,” he explained.

“There’s been a dramatic reduction in falls from heights in recent years on account of the safety measures we’ve adopted," he said.

The MoPH official also pointed out that road traffic accidents went down by 30% last year. This year, the preliminary reports so far suggest that the it has gone down by another 30%.

“In the last three years, the numbers have gone down so significantly that we’ve got the best figures in the world in accident containment. In case of road traffic accidents reduction, Qatar has better statistics than the US per car.”

Dr Sheikh Mohamed expected three hospitals for workers to be opened in less than 18 months.

“However, the timing largely depends on Ashghal and other stakeholders in completing the works and delivering them. We hope that all three hospitals, at different locations around the country, will be operational by the end of 2017. This will enable workers to reach any of the hospitals in less than 20 minutes.”

Sheikh Mohamed hoped that all the companies will strictly implement the midday ban on outdoor work which will be in force from June 15 to August 31.

No labourer should work more than five hours outdoors in the mornings during this period, according to a ministerial decree issued in 2007. Further, no outside work can be done from 11.30am to 3pm during the period.

Courtesy: gulf-times.com