Qatar Cancer Plan 2023 - 2026

Objectives

The Qatar Cancer Plan 2023–2026 provides a national framework to deliver “Excellence for All”, building on earlier cancer-service improvements and responding to a growing cancer burden. It seeks to improve prevention, early detection, treatment, continuing care, holistic support, childhood cancer services, surveillance, research, workforce capability and strategic infrastructure across the full patient pathway.[1][2][3]The plan contains 87 measurable deliverables under 23 strategic objectives, organised across prevention and public education, screening, quality treatment and ongoing care, holistic support, childhood cancers, surveillance and research, and strategic enablers.[2][4]

• Reduce cancer risk through healthy lifestyles, tobacco control, improved diet and physical activity, Human Papillomavirus vaccination, action on environmental and occupational exposures, and culturally appropriate public education that addresses myths, stigma and low health literacy.[5][6][7]
• Improve early diagnosis through accessible, quality-assured breast and bowel screening, opportunistic cervical screening, enhanced recognition of cancer symptoms, telemedicine-enabled screening and assessment of further national screening programmes.[8][9][10]
• Deliver patient-centred, multidisciplinary, evidence-based treatment, including rapid urgent suspected-cancer referral, specialist services for complex cases, precision medicine, advanced radiotherapy, stem cell transplantation and a proposed Comprehensive Cancer Center.[11][12][13][14]
• Provide holistic support that addresses physical, emotional, psychological, social, spiritual and financial needs from diagnosis through survivorship and end-of-life care, with particular attention to priority populations including Qataris, low-income people, migrant workers, screening participants and teenagers and young adults.[15][16][17]
• Strengthen childhood cancer services through prompt diagnosis, effective treatment, psychosocial support, transitions between paediatric and adult care, advanced therapeutics, palliative and home care, and progression towards international recognition as a Childhood Cancer Centre of Excellence.[18][19][20]
• Advance surveillance and translational research to support data-driven planning, service quality improvement, clinical trials, innovation and improved patient outcomes, including precision and personalised medicine, molecular diagnostics, cellular therapies and immunotherapy.[21][22][23]
• Develop enabling governance, workforce, infrastructure and digital systems to support equitable, accessible and high-quality cancer care.[24][25][26]

Implementation

Implementation uses a joined-up, multi-institutional model spanning prevention, primary care, specialist hospital services, community support, research and data systems. Delivery is organised through time-bound, tangible deliverables with named leads, milestones and completion criteria, under governance by the National Cancer Governance Board.[2][27][24]The Ministry of Public Health leads policy, prevention, public education and national coordination; the Primary Health Care Corporation leads screening, early detection and referral; Hamad Medical Corporation provides most specialist treatment and continuing care; and Sidra Medicine leads specialised childhood cancer development.[28][29][30][31]

• Coordinate national delivery through the National Cancer Governance Board, the National Cancer Programme, the Ministry of Public Health, Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation, Sidra Medicine, private providers, voluntary organisations and community partners.[32][28][24]
• Develop implementation plans for each deliverable that include milestones, budgets, workforce requirements, monitoring arrangements and processes for escalating risks and issues.[24]
• Integrate care across transitions between primary and secondary care, paediatric and adult services, hospital and community settings, survivorship, palliative care and home care, supported by shared pathways, protocols and multidisciplinary teams.[27][15][33]
• Operate screening through Primary Health Care Corporation centres, mobile services, a national call centre, dedicated screening suites and a 48-hour urgent suspected-cancer referral pathway to Hamad Medical Corporation.[8][9]
• Expand specialist capacity through a Comprehensive Cancer Center business case, annual joint capital planning, workforce education, a precision medicine operating model, peer review and investment in facilities, technologies and service infrastructure.[34][24][25]
• Establish national infrastructure for holistic support through a governing entity or committee, a national model of care, facility-level quality-of-life plans, transitional-care programmes, workforce certification, patient information and community-based support.[35]
• Strengthen childhood cancer capability through international affiliation, paediatric haematopoietic stem cell transplantation, targeted and precision therapies, CAR-T and gene therapy development, a national paediatric oncology registry and expanded clinical-trial capacity.[20]
• Use digital systems, including the Qatar Health Information Exchange Hub, the Qatar National Cancer Registry, screening and waiting-times registries, and cancer-specific electronic health and data-management plans to support secure data exchange, planning, research and patient-centred care.[21][25][26]
• Monitor delivery through quarterly progress reports to the National Cancer Governance Board, quarterly reporting of key performance indicators, annual review of indicators and an annual Board report on progress, key risks and mitigation to the Public Health Committee.[24][36]
• Apply quality assurance through service-performance measures, cancer waiting-time monitoring, national screening key performance indicator libraries, audits, clinical peer review and standardised patient-safety processes.[8][9][12][34]

Monitoring & Evaluation

The plan establishes a governance-led monitoring system combining measurable deliverables, operational key performance indicators, registry-based surveillance, service-quality review and regular reporting. It contains 87 deliverables across 23 strategic objectives, with defined endpoints for assessing completion.[2][24]

• Monitor deliverables quarterly through the National Cancer Governance Board, using clear completion criteria and progress updates from lead organisations.[27][24]
• Report key performance indicators quarterly to the National Cancer Governance Board, review them annually, and refine them when baselines, services or technologies change.[36]
• Submit an annual National Cancer Governance Board report on progress, principal risks and mitigation to the Public Health Committee.[24]
• Undertake a mid-term review in early 2025 and use capacity, capability and governance reviews to support implementation.[24][26]
• Approve indicator-reporting mechanisms, schedules and templates for quarterly plan updates, with stakeholder organisations developing cancer-specific electronic health and data-management plans aligned with national programmes.[26]

Surveillance infrastructure is centred on the Qatar Cancer Information Center, its Governance Committee and a national data warehouse. The centre houses the Qatar National Cancer Registry, Cancer Screening Registry and Cancer Waiting Times Registry, while the Qatar Cancer Minimum Dataset is to be enhanced to include further molecular and palliative-care data.[21]Cancer-registry data support monitoring of incidence, survival, tumour site, nationality and gender.[37]

• Maintain annual review of the National Cancer Registry and regular engagement with the International Agency for Research on Cancer to strengthen cancer-data quality and workforce capability.[21]
• Establish a national paediatric oncology registry at the Ministry of Public Health and ensure systematic, regular specialised data collection by the fourth quarter of 2024.[20]
• Integrate the Qatar National Cancer Registry with the national health information exchange to support planning, population-health monitoring, analytics, research, data quality and confidentiality.[25][26]
• Establish a national cancer observatory within the public health observatory to collect information and prepare reports for planning and evaluation.[5]

Performance monitoring includes cancer waiting times, urgent suspected-cancer referrals, screening uptake and coverage, clinical peer review, patient experience and patient-reported outcomes.[12][8][23]Screening oversight uses national key performance indicator libraries, clinical guidelines, quality frameworks, registry data, comprehensive performance reporting and periodic internal Primary Health Care Corporation and external Ministry of Public Health audits.[8][9]

• Establish a cervical cancer detection-rate baseline by the fourth quarter of 2024 and a clinical peer-review group for urgent suspected-cancer referrals by the fourth quarter of 2025.[10]
• Conduct Cancer Awareness and Behavioural surveys and use the Cancer Awareness Measure to track understanding of cancer risks, symptoms, misconceptions and early detection.[7][38]
• Monitor holistic support through data baselines, ongoing data capture, a Ministry of Public Health registry and patient-satisfaction questions integrated into patient-experience surveys.[35]
• Re-establish peer review with an accredited institute and implement a standardised quality-assurance and patient-safety process agreed across relevant organisations.[34]
• Monitor cancer-research investment through the National Research Group and require the national cancer-research lead to report quarterly to the National Cancer Governance Board.[22]

The plan identifies further monitoring priorities but does not provide a complete numerical indicator set, universal targets, independent evaluation methodology or sanctions for non-delivery across every strategic objective.[9][35][21]

Costing & Financing

Financing is framed as essential to delivering cancer-service expansion, workforce development, digital infrastructure, research, screening, palliative homecare, holistic support and a new Comprehensive Cancer Center. Implementation plans for individual deliverables are expected to include budgets and workforce requirements, and the National Cancer Governance Board is to work with stakeholders to understand budget allocations and fiscal-support needs.[24]

• Invest in cancer interventions because each 1 Qatari Riyal invested is estimated to generate a return of 4 to 10 Qatari Riyals over a decade.[2]
• Prioritise prevention and population-level interventions, which are presented as cost-effective, capable of generating short- and long-term returns, and reducing costs for the health sector and other sectors.[39]
• Allocate dedicated funding and skilled workforce capacity to meet rising demand and service complexity in cancer screening.[40]
• Develop an annual joint capital investment plan across Hamad Medical Corporation, Primary Health Care Corporation, Sidra Medicine and the Ministry of Public Health for existing, new and innovative cancer services.[34]
• Provide substantial fiscal-budget and human-resource investment for the proposed Comprehensive Cancer Center, supported by right-sizing and efficiency analysis before finalising its design and project plan.[14]
• Provide capital investment to operationalise palliative homecare and address workforce, infrastructure, physical-space and bed-capacity constraints.[13][14]

Research financing is to be aligned with national priorities: the Qatar National Research Fund is expected to fund cancer research projects only in areas identified by the Cancer Research Governance Committee by the fourth quarter of 2024.[23]Human Papillomavirus vaccination is supported by cited economic evidence of a three-fold return on investment across 94 low- and middle-income countries during 2011 to 2020, rather than a Qatar-specific estimate.[41]

Financial hardship is recognised as part of holistic cancer support: family financial difficulties are represented as 24% direct treatment costs and 76% indirect costs associated with interrupted life.[16]The plan also identifies the need for financial support for children with cancer and their families, and notes substantial costs associated with overseas treatment for some patients.[19][13]

No overall Qatar Cancer Plan budget, programme-level allocation, quantified funding gap, detailed costing methodology or comprehensive resource-mobilisation plan is specified in the supplied sections.[24][25][26]