JEDDAH, 12 February 2004 — Work is under way on a 225-bed private hospital in Jeddah which is slated to become the Middle East’s most advanced medical facility.
The hospital, initiated by four Saudi businessmen, will have three tower buildings with 152 rooms and royal suites.
“It’s designed to look like an impressive cultural monument in Jeddah,” said Oghaid Damashqiya, director of the project. The hospital will have the latest medical equipment and facilities and will be linked by satellite with advanced medical centers all over the world.
According to Damashqiya, the hospital has been designed by a well-known American engineering firm. Covering an area of 35,000 sq. mt., the hospital will have an underground parking area for 500 cars in addition to parking facilities around the building. “The hospital will be ready in 2006,” Al-Riyadh Arabic daily quoted him as saying.
Meanwhile, 10 advanced operating rooms at a cost of SR4 million have been established at King Faisal Hospital in Taif, according to Dr. Muhammad Al-Shehry, the hospital’s director.
The rooms are provided with a modern electrical system to provide power in the event of electricity outages. The hospital’s intensive care unit has also been modernized, he told the Arabic daily.
In another development, Health Minister Dr. Hamad Al-Manie said he expected to have SR1 billion from the annual budget to purchase medicine for government hospitals and health centers. “The budget has made allocations to establish 150 health centers in various parts of the Kingdom,” the minister said.
