Qatar Neonatal Transport Programme transports hundreds of newborns for tertiary care in Qatar and abroad

Doha: Since its launch in 2015, the Qatar Neonatal Transport Program, the first of its kind nationwide emergency transportation service in the Middle East, has safely transported over 950 neonates from different public and private healthcare facilities in Qatar and from other countries within the region for tertiary level care at the Women’s Wellness and Research Center (WWRC) as well as abroad.

The objective of the high acuity transportation service, initiated to improve care for newborns in the country, was to safely transport high-risk preterm babies born in other public or private hospitals to WWRC for urgent specialist care. “Since we started the program six years ago, 956 fragile neonates have been transported between maternity facilities in Qatar. This means between 150 to180 neonates are transported yearly and the number is expected to continue to increase within the coming years. The availability of an organized neonatal transport program is of great benefit to these fragile neonates as it improves their chance of survival and reduces their medical complications,” explains Dr. Mai Al Qubaisi, WWRC’s Acting Director of NICU.