SAUDI ARABIA TO HAVE 5 NEW MEDICAL CITIES
The Ministry of Health operated 77 hospitals and medical towers with a capacity of 11,161 beds in the past five years, according to sources at the ministry.
A total of 295 hospitals with a total capacity of 38,970 beds are now operational.
Providing a report card of the last five years, the sources said more than 12 million people visited hospital outpatient clinics and 22 million to emergency rooms, while ministry hospitals performed about 475,000 surgeries and 270,000 deliveries.
The ministry is now preparing and operating 88 specialist centers with a 700-bed capacity throughout the country. Thirty-four centers for the treatment of heart, liver, diabetes and other medical conditions were established and operated over the past five years, said sources.
The ministry confirmed its commitment to expanding access to medical facilities and services throughout the Kingdom in order to reduce travel distances for patients.
Sources revealed plans are underway to establish five new medical cities with a capacity of up to 6,200 beds, which will include hospitals and specialist medical centers to deal with a variety of medical illnesses, including rare conditions.
Expansion work is also planned for King Fahd Medical City in Riyadh, King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah, King Faisal Medical City, Prince Mohammed Bin Abdulaziz Medical City and King Khalid Medical City to cover all geographical regions.
As for primacy care centers, 848 centers were built and operated over the past five years, bringing the total number of primary care centers in the year 1435 AH to 2,259.
Sources also confirmed that the ministry is working on the development of various programs and services including home medical services and visiting physician programs to cover rare specialties, electronic medical-referral services and dialysis care via private sector service providers.
