New to Doha with children: the health checks to arrange first

1. Residency first, because everything hangs off it

Most health admin in Qatar follows the QID. Vaccination records, health cards and school paperwork all tend to need it, so the residence permit process is the thing that paces the rest.

While you wait, private clinics can see your children without a QID — useful for the ear infection that does not wait for paperwork.

2. The Health Card for public primary care

A Health Card gives access to public primary healthcare through the Primary Health Care Corporation (PHCC). It is inexpensive — in the region of 100 QAR a year — and is what you present at a PHCC health centre.

Fees and requirements do change, so check the current position with PHCC or MOPH rather than relying on a blog, including this one.

3. Vaccinations — what is free and where

Qatar runs a national childhood immunisation programme delivered through PHCC health centres, and the vaccines on the national schedule are provided free of charge at those centres on presentation of a valid Health Card.

Bring the vaccination booklet from your home country. Qatar’s schedule may not line up exactly with where you came from, and a doctor needs to see what has already been given before advising on what is due.

The authoritative schedule is the Ministry of Public Health’s. A private paediatrician can review your child’s record against it and tell you where the gaps are.

4. Find a paediatrician before you need one

The worst time to choose a clinic is at 9pm with a feverish toddler. Register the family somewhere while nothing is wrong.

Worth checking: how late the paediatric clinic runs, whether Friday is covered, whether blood tests are taken on site, and which languages the doctor speaks.

5. School medical forms

Most schools in Qatar ask for a medical form and an up-to-date vaccination record before a child starts. These are routine, but they take an appointment, and in August every clinic in Doha is doing them at once.

If you are arriving in the summer, do this early.

6. Build a small home kit, and know where to go

A thermometer, oral rehydration sachets, child paracetamol in the right strength for your child’s weight, plasters and any regular medicines. Ask a pharmacist what is sensible for your children’s ages.

Know in advance which clinic you will use for an evening illness, and remember that emergencies in Qatar go to a hospital emergency department or 999 — not to a clinic.