Mohamed al-Thani

Council of Ministers Decision No.(33) of 2009 (“Decision”) was issued by HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani on 30 August, 2009.

The Decision amended Emiri Decision No.(29) of 1996 and Council of Ministers Resolution No.(6) of 2008 (“Resolution”), both of which set out the various public holidays applicable to the employees of Qatari Ministries and other government bodies, the public authorities and institutions of Qatar and the Qatar Central Bank (QCB), and the financial institutions it supervises, namely the Qatar Financial Markets Authority (QFMA) and the Qatar Securities Market (QSM).

Article (3) of the Resolution specifically sets out the holidays applicable to employees of the QCB, QFMA, and QSC as follows:

Qatar National Day on December 18 will be celebrated with a host of activities. According to the State National Day Celebrations Organising Committee, the celebrations will continue up to 2am on Saturday, December 19, with the Doha Corniche as the focal point.
The national anthem will signal the start of the traditional grand parade along the Corniche at 2.45pm.
After a recitation from the Holy Qur’an, 24 dhows will sail into Corniche Bay, accompanied by traditional Qatari sea songs. This will be followed by the national parade.

Roads are adorned with the national flag ahead of the celebrations At 4pm, classic cars will go on display on the Corniche.

H1N1 claims one more life in Qatar
Influenza A(H1N1) virus has claimed another life raising the number of deaths to seven in Qatar, the Supreme Council of Health has announced.
The latest victim, a 31-year-old Indian woman, died yesterday after she was diagnosed with H1N1 virus infection. She was admitted to Hamad Hospital on November 6 suffering from rheumatic fever, cardiac diseases, breathing difficulty and high temperature.
On Tuesday, a Pakistani youth, 17, died due to the virus after suffering from complications of temperature and pneumonia and was later diagnosed with a kidney disease known as Nephritic Syndrome.
The council will hold a press conference on Sunday. The meeting will be addressed by the Public Health Department director Dr Mohamed al-Thani.

http://www.gulf-time...

Schools are set to reopen tomorrow after a week’s delay which was ordered as a precautionary step against the spread of H1N1 flu

By Anwar Elshamy
Staff Reporter

The Supreme Council of Health has confirmed that all schools in the country will reopen tomorrow, even as a senior official highlighted the WHO recommendation for closure of any school with more than 1% of students infected with the H1N1 swine flu.

A senior health official yesterday hinted that all residents in Qatar are likely to be vaccinated against Influenza A (H1N1) by January 2010. However, it was unclear when the vaccine will be available in the country.
Speaking at a one-day preventive measures against influenza A(H1N1) workshop organised by the Supreme Council of Health for school nurses and staff, Medicine Department chairman Dr Abdullatif al-Khal noted that two major campaigns were being launched in the country to combat and slow down the spread of the virus.
The workshop was being sponsored by the Qatar National Bank.

Schools told not to delay reopening over H1N1 fears

The Supreme Council of Health (SCH) yesterday asked all schools in Qatar to resume classes as earlier scheduled while urging them to follow precautions and guidelines issued by the council in dealing with the H1N1 cases.

Flu drug warning
A senior Qatari official has cautioned residents against taking Tamiflu, an antiviral medicine, without having influenza symptoms.

Tamiflu is being used as a preventive medicine against the H1N1 virus.

“It is not advisable to take the drug without having being diagnosed of flu or flu-like symptoms, as taking the medicine may lead to developing resistance against it in case of future usage and this could be really devastating on health,” Public Health Department director Dr Mohamed al-Thani told Gulf Times yesterday.

Many residents, including those planning to travel to endemic countries for holidays and who are not necessarily suffering from flu, are trying to purchase the drug over-the-counter.