Qatar

Located on the Persian Gulf, this Arab country was relatively poor until the discovery of oil. Most medical care used traditional herbal remedies or pastes, with a hospital opening at Doha, the country's capital, in 1945, staffed by one doctor. Six years later, it had a British doctor and a small staff. The government opened the Rumailah Hospital, the first state hospital, in 1959. With added wealth, a 165-bed maternity hospital was opened in 1965. People with serious illnesses were sent overseas.

During the 1970s, the provision of health care was dramatically improved with new oil wealth, with better medical care being at the forefront of the development of the country under Sheikh Khalifa, who acceded to the throne in 1972. The Rumailah Hospital, sometimes referred to as “Doha Hospital,” ceased to be a general hospital and is now a center for geriatric patients, psychiatric cases, and rehabilitative care. A Women's Hospital was opened with 314 beds, and the Hamad General Hospital was opened in March 1982, with 1,100 beds. It has been equipped with facilities for emergency care, nuclear medicine, plastic surgery, cardiovascular treatment and tomography, as well as having departments concerned with dentistry, dermatology, and a small burns unit. There are also clinics throughout the country which provide primary healthcare to many people.

Many of the doctors working in Qatar were expatriates, includin Dr. Alwyn Gotting, who served in Qatar for 36 years and was appointed, in 1972, as the first Director of the Ministry of Public Health. He later become the medical attaché at the Qatar Embassy in London. His widow, Fay Gotting, wrote the authoritative history of medicine in Qatar. From the 1980's more than 90 percent of births are attended by medical health professionals, and in 1993 there were 752 government physicians, with others working in private clinics in Doha. All hospital care in Qatar is free, even for visitors and tourists, and there are 126 doctors and 289 nurses per 100,000 people.