The Shura Council State of Qatar

The Shura Council held this morning its regular weekly meeting. The meeting was chaired by His Excellency Mr. Ahmed Bin Abdulla Bin Zaid Al-Mahmoud, the Speaker of the Shura Council.

 At the beginning of the meeting, the Council discussed the request for general discussion made by a number of members concerning the situation of the medical services in the country.

The members praised the medical services provided by the Government for citizens and expatriates, but they pointed out that there is need to improve the provision of these services so as to be consistent with capabilities provided by the Government, and to lead to improvement in medical services so as to attain a better standard and optimum performance.

During the discussion, the members of the Council stressed that despite their appreciation of the great development of the health services which the country witnessed in compliance with the instructions and guidance of His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the Emir (May Allah protect him) and  as the result of the great support offered by the Government for this important sector, there still are limitations, short comes and problems that require speed remedies, including the need to pay more attention to emergency departments in the hospitals, addressing the issue of the appointments, the long waiting times, and lack of beds and rooms.

The members of the Council called for evaluation of the experience of previous health insurance program, to review its drawbacks, suggest ways how to address these shortcomings and how to make use of them in the new health insurance project.

The members of the Council noted that there is need for development and expansion of health services to cope with the drastic increase in population and that they should be in consistency with the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030 that pertain to health sector.

After extensive discussions the Council decided to refer the matter to the Public Services and Utilities Committee to study the issue extensively, taking into account the observations, proposals and complaints of the citizens about the medical services, and to report to the Council thereon.

At the close of the meeting H. E. Mr. Ahmed Bin Abdulla Bin Zaid Al-Mahmoud, the Speaker of the  Shura Council  briefed the Council about the participation of the delegation of the Council in the works of the Conference of the Association of Senates, Shura and Equivalent Councils in Africa and the Arab World on the experiences of national reconciliations leading to political stability, social peace and peace-building, which took place during the period of 17-18th, of current month of January in Rabat, the Kingdom of Morocco. He further informed the Council about the meetings that His Excellency held on the sidelines of the conference, which included the Chairmen of the House of Representatives and the House of the Councilors of Morocco, Chairman of the Parliament of the Economic Community of West African States and the both current and upcoming Chairmen of the Parliament of Latin America.

The Speaker of the Shura Council said that discussions during these meetings focused on promoting and developing the relations between the Shura Council and the parliaments of those States and regional parliamentary groupings.

His Excellency explained that the conference, which was attended by chairpersons of national and regional parliaments in the Arab world, Africa and Latin America, as well as by national and international human rights prominent figures in the area of reconciliation and transitional justice, has welcomed in its final communiqué, the hosting of the next Meeting of the General Assembly of the IPU and the Related Meetings by the State of Qatar to be held in Doha from 6 to 10 April 2019.

Today’s meeting of the Shura Council witnessed attendance and participation of a number of students from Qatar University, Hamad Bin Khalifa University and the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, who participated in some debates. Their participation comes as per the desire of the Shura Council to introduce  to them the  experience of the Shura Council, so as to learn about its functions, responsibilities, competences and how its legislative meetings are managed, about its legislative tenure, the functions of its specialized standing committees , its work mechanisms and its channels of communication with the citizens to receive their feedback, and suggestions and  to learn their desires and aspirations  in order to reflect them in the acts of the Council so as to work for their achievement in cooperation with the esteemed Government.