Poster Presentations (Group I)

Population and Diversity in Qatar:
Qatar is a peninsula located half-way down the west coast of the Arabian Gulf. The major sectors of the population are : - Qatari nationals (20%) - South Asians (mainly Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, and Filipinos) making up approximately 35% of the population- Arabs (25%)- Iranians (16%) and others (4%). Arabic is Qatar's official language with English also being widely spoken. However, Asian dialects are the predominant languages within Qatar .

Qatar initiative towards Health Care & Education:
For centuries economic activity in Qatar centered on camel breeding, fishing and pearl diving. In the twentieth century, the economy was transformed by the discovery of oil and, later on, of vast reserves of gas off the northeast coast. With economic prosperity came the development of a modern infrastructure to include Health care and Education : 1) The Health-care sector has come a long way in providing the most advanced medical equipment and qualified cadres in both the public and private sector. 2) Education initiative: Qatar's most ambitious project is the multi–institutional Education City. Some of the world's foremost higher education institutions have established branch campuses specializing in various fields. This includes: Texas A & M University / Carnegie Mellon University / Georgetown University / Virginia Commonwealth University, and Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q).
The Program of Medical Interpretation is one of the pioneering initiatives of Weill Cornell Medical College in partnership with Hamad Medical Corporation(the major public hospital) . Our program is the first of its kind not only in Qatar but in the region. It is a challenging milestone to initiate a program within an environment to which it is alien. However, we are very optimistic as we develop the program and introduce it to our medical students who are “the future health-care providers” .

In our efforts to raise the awareness of communication barriers and their impact on the quality of health-care provided to multi-cultural communities, we have conducted various presentations to the students,the faculty and HMC medical team ; titled:
• Introduction of the Medical Interpretation Program
• The Role of Medical Interpreter
• Trained VS. Untrained Medical Interpreter
• Communication Barriers and Cross Cultural Issues in Health Care Settings
The program has commenced on January 2, 2008 providing Arabic, Hindi and Tamil language services to the medical students during their clerkships. Working together with HMC, the program is planning to extend its services to serve all medical providers in Qatar.