The Hamad bin Khalifa Hospital in Boutilimit, Mauritania, has recently issued its annual report on the medical activities and services offered during 2022, with a view to improving the health conditions of the local communities of Boutilimit and neighboring regions.
Operated and managed by Qatar Red Crescent Society (QRCS), under a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Education Above All (EAA), the hospital relies on its own resources and infrastructure, with a workforce of 83 specialist physicians, nurses, assistants, social workers, and administrative staff.
To meet the hospital's actual needs, there are development plans for construction of new premises and maintenance of the ole one.
The overall budget of the hospital for 2022 amounted to $1,359,758. It has four medical divisions: outpatient, inpatient, technical, and emergency. There are six outpatient clinics of internal medicine, obstetrics and gynecology, dermatology, general surgery, orthopedics, and dental medicine.
From 1 January to 31 December 2022, the 8-bed emergency department received 22,000 patients, including 17,355 multiple emergencies, 4,381 Ob-Gyn emergencies, and 264 road traffic injuries. Performance indicators show that the hospital managed to achieve a main goal of minimizing referrals to major hospitals in Nouakchott – no more than 93 referrals.
With its six rooms, the outpatient department offers GP services during weekdays, while other specialties are available on a basis of three clinics minimum per week. Over the past year, the department served 53,946 patients, including 20,622 children, 11,580 male adults, and 21,745 female adults. They are divided as follows: GP (34,749), general surgery (769), pediatrics (2,664), Ob-Gyn (1,235), dental medicine (2,693), orthopedics (1,400), pregnancy care (1,766), dermatology (4,943), internal medicine (2,307), ophthalmology (1,381), and ENT (42).
Currently, the hospital has a capacity of 62 beds in four recovery departments (internal medicine, pediatrics, Ob-Gyn, and general surgery). The reported year recorded 4,660 inpatients with a total of 11,510 stay days. The bed occupancy rate was 58%, with an average of 2.47 stay days per patient.
As the hospital pays great attention to maternal and child health, the Ob-Gyn department supervised 1,315 births, including 267 C-sections, with a surgical intervention percentage of 20%.
In the department of biotechnology, which consists of three fully equipped operating rooms, lab, and medical imaging unit, it conducted 934 surgeries in the specialties of general surgery, Ob-Gyn, orthopedics, and ophthalmology. Also, there were made 37,585 lab tests (average: 103 per day) and 5,069 medical images (average: 14 per day).
The hospital continued to provide training for the students of public health schools, such as the schools of public health in Rosso and Kiffa and the National Higher School for Health Sciences in Nouakchott. Over the past 12 months, a new batch of 23 trainees was received. To ensure sustainability of professional capacity-building, the hospital took part in many training courses with other organizations and organized internship and field training programs for nurses.
In relation to social care, the Social Affairs Department assisted 567 poor patients to get access to vital health services. Under a partnership agreement with the National Reproductive Health Program, health care was given to 1,887 pregnant women across Boutilimit.
Established in 2007, the Hamad bin Khalifa Hospital is supervised by EAA, which seeks to change the world by providing education opportunities for the world's underserved children and youths, believing that education is the best way out of poverty, towards just and peaceful communities that unleash the full potential of every child and youth. Also, education is a fundamental right for all children and one of the key pillars of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The hospital pursues the strategic goal of providing high-quality health care at affordable prices for the poor, to avoid the need to travel for treatment in Nouakchott or abroad.