Following the signing ceremony, Al-Rabeeah thanked Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for allocating SR16 billion for the construction of new medical cities in the Kingdom.
He said two major international companies have been awarded the contract for consultancy, engineering design, supervision and management of each of the cities. The contract for the two new projects is worth SR430 million.
He explained the two new cities is testament to the commitment and vision of King Abdullah who is keen on expanding health care at all levels. He pointed out the King Fahd Medical City will serve the central region, the King Faisal Medical City will cover the southern region, while the Prince Muhammad bin Abdulaziz Medical City will serve people in the northern part of the Kingdom.
According to the contracts, Saudi Diyar will handle the King Abdullah Medical City in association with RTKL. The other contract for King Khalid Medical City was awarded to ICOM Arabia.
“These two new cities will provide excellent health care services in their respective regions, including services that cover specialized centers for oncology, neurology and cardiology, radiotherapy, organ transplant and other rare specialized disciplines,” he said.
“The concept of medical cities in various parts of the Kingdom is to take health care services to the people to save time and money spent on patients in search of medical treatment in other provinces,” the minister said.
Khaled Al-Shaibani, executive general manager of King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Dammam, said the proposed King Khalid Medical City will be built on an area of 700,000 square meters with a capacity of 1,500 beds.
He added that it will function as a specialized hospital, which would include separate wings for cardiology, neuroscience research center, center for organ transplant and other rare specialties such as a separate hospital for rehabilitation and separate buildings for its staff.
The new city is completely independent from King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Dammam, he added.
Dr. Hassan Bakhamis, executive general manager of King Abdullah Medical City, said the medical complex would be built on an area of 2 million square meters on the Makkah-Jeddah highway.
It will have 1,500 beds with separate departments for specialist treatment. Each department will have at least 100 beds.
Separate departments will include units for cardiology, oncology, radiology, nuclear medicine and support services.
It will have two laboratories, one for general tests and the other for research work. It will also have an auditorium for 2,000 people where training programs and medical conferences can be conducted.
