Qatar will have 1,040 new hospital beds by next year, a report said, noting that a further 2,148 new beds will be added between 2017 and 2022.

Qatar’s Supreme Council of Health (SCH) is aiming to meet the targeted 405 published national reforms, according to the Gulf Times report, which cited an annual released by SCH.

The reforms aim to introduce higher primary and community-based care, with increased reliance on the private sector.

“We began this publication so that we could methodically and publicly take stock of our progress in the health sector,” Public Health Minister Abdulla bin Khalid al-Qahtani was quoted as saying in the report.

The SCH and its partners opened seven new and refurbished facilities and advanced the construction of 25 health centres and 11 hospitals in 2014, while 82 other new and revamped facilities for marked for opening between 2015 and 2022.

“By next year alone, SCH and its partners will add 1,040 new hospital beds.  The SCH has approved the opening of a further 2,148 new HMC beds between 2017 and 2022,” the report said.

“Bringing the country’s 2022 planned total to 5,578 hospital beds, this is well ahead of the 5,686 beds required by 2033 as projected in the Qatar Healthcare Facilities Master Plan 2013-2033, launched by SCH on 1 July 2014.”

In 2014, the SCH licensed 219 private sector facilities and added 168 private providers to the national health insurance network, the report said.

A recent study by 24/7 Wall St, an online financial news and opinion agency, ranked Qatar as the world’s healthiest country based on 21 system and health indicators.