By investing in smart technologies and Internet of Things (IoT) platforms, Qatar was able to avoid complete lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic, a senior official at the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) said.
“In Qatar, we had begun setting up a central system for all public health facilities through Cerner, and this helped us have the entire system connected together as one unit,” the official said.
This came in as a great help amidst the pandemic. Qatar also invested in plenty of smart monitoring systems including the Ehteraz and other such smart systems, said Sheikh Dr. Mohamed bin Hamad al-Thani, the Director of Public Health Department at MoPH.
“This investment in smart technologies helped Qatar avoid a full lockdown, which most other countries in the world had to face,” he said, speaking during a panel discussion on “The Internet of Things in Health Emergencies at the Qatar Economic Forum, powered by Bloomberg.
Sheikh Mohamed said that they were sure that technology is necessary to face any situation, and that they had already worked on these aspects.
“The Internet of Things is one area we were very keen to invest in. This could lower the pressure on healthcare system and assured confidence in the economy during the lockdown.”
“Qatar had worked out a clear policy right from the beginning to face the pandemic, and we had observed the situation keenly,” he added.
While other countries began facing the pandemic, it was known that the virus would reach
Qatar sooner or later, and this provided the message that the world should work together in making it a safe place, he explained.
Despite the Covid-19 restrictions, Qatar was able to keep its economy moving due to its dependence on technology, the official pointed out.
"All our work and investment in modern technologies such as IoT and cloud computing helped us face the challenges and overcome them strongly. When we started investing in these technologies, it was a very costly affair, but we are getting real benefits of this investment and the people and country are benefiting from it,” Sheikh Mohammed noted.
