DOHA: Travellers are advised to pay a visit to Travel Clinic at Hamad Medical Corporation’s (HMC) Communicable Diseases Center (CDC) to avoid travel-related illnesses.

The Travel Clinic was inaugurated in February 2017, few months after the opening of the Communicable Diseases Center (CDC). The travel medicine is a new concept in Qatar, previously a very few private clinics were offering a limited number of vaccinations.

Travel Clinic offers pre-travel advise, counselling, vaccinations and other preventive measures information to travellers.

In an interview with The Peninsula, Dr Mohamed Abu Khattab, Senior Consultant, Communicable Diseases and Travel Medicine at HMC, said: “In order to avoid the risks of diseases, travellers must be vaccinated before travelling.

The best time to visit the Travel Clinic is before six to four weeks of travelling. Two week before travelling is also good enough as the vaccines work within two weeks.” As soon as a traveller books tickets and hotels, he should visit the clinic to get vaccinated in order to avoid diseases during vacations.

Discussing about the destination of the traveller, Dr Mohamed, said: “Diseases vary between different destinations and that is the reason we get a history check-up done before the vacationer travels. As we are well aware of different cities in one country will have different diseases, we need the exact information about the traveller where is he going to stay and what all activities he might do during his stay.”

These pieces of advice are especially important for individuals with pre-existing health conditions, in particular, chronic diseases. “Patients with chronic diseases will need to discuss potential modifications or changes to medication routines and will also need to ensure they have enough medication for the duration of their vacation. This is particularly important for diabetics using insulin,” Dr Abu Khattab stated.

He also recommended wearing light coloured long-sleeved clothing, applying anti-insect creams and using anti-mosquito nets during sleep.

Some special vaccines are also provided at Travel Clinic which are not available anywhere else in Qatar which include Japanese encephalitis, Tick-borne Encephalitis and cholera. Whereas, Influenza vaccines; Pneumococcal; Measles; Mumps; Rubella and Varicella vaccines are also available.

He also said: “The most common symptoms people return with after their travel include, fever, diarrhoea and skin rashes mostly depending on where the traveller was residing during his vacations.”

Discussing about the expansion of Travel Clinic, Abu Khattab said: “Currently we have three travel clinics. We see 30 travellers per week. From the start of 2018, we have examined 400 travellers and last year since we started our clinic in February we saw almost 400 travellers as well. As per the increase in demand, we are planning to expand our clinics and we are increasing the number of physicians as well.”

“Travellers may be provided with certain medications such as travel-related diarrhoea drugs (antibiotics, anti-stomach cramps, and vomiting) and anti-malaria drugs, if needed,” Dr Abu Khattab added.  To book an appointment for a travel assessment, the Travel Clinic can be contacted on 4025 4003.

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