JEDDAH, 12 November 2003 — The Saudi-German Hospital Group has announced its plans to establish five medical colleges in Jeddah, Riyadh, Asir, Madinah and Dammam at a total cost of SR1 billion within 10 years.
“We intend to complete this project by 2013,” the Saudi Press Agency quoted Sobhi Batterjee, chairman of SGHG, as saying yesterday.
“The state will give SR250 million to finance the project while the rest will come from national and international banks and local investors,” he said.
Batterjee made the announcement at the inauguration of the Saudi-German Hospital in Madinah. Prince Sultan, second deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, on Monday officially opened the 300-bed facility, the largest private hospital in the Madinah region.
Prince Sultan inspected the facilities in the six-floor hospital, which has specialty clinics for orthopedics, accidents, open-heart surgery and neurology as well as a conference hall for 500 people to hold seminars and educational programs.
Meanwhile, Prince Sultan will lay the foundation stone for a 50-bed armed forces hospital in Madinah today.
