The Ministry of Health on Monday announced that it is supplying 11 general and specialist hospitals and medical towers across the Kingdom with 2,200 beds.

“The Saudi government was allocated a SR990 million budget for 2014 and 2015 to furnish and equip several hospital projects and medical towers,” said Dr. Salah Al-Mazroua, deputy health minister for medical supplies and engineering affairs.

“These projects comes within the Health Ministry strategy for opening 45 new hospitals during the current year and next year,” he said.

Four mental health hospitals in Hail, Al-Kharj, Tabuk and Najran can accommodate up to 200 beds per hospital, while other hospitals in Hail, Qatif and Buraida can accommodate between 100 to 500 beds.

The Health Ministry opened 15 new hospitals with 3,450 beds across the Kingdom last year and plans to launch more hospitals and medical towers with 8,160 beds in 2014.

The ministry also plans to build special centers and health facilities for heart surgery and the treatment of tumors. The 132 hospital projects currently underway will create a total bed capacity of 38,739 beds in the country. This figure is expected to rise to 72,525 beds in 2019.

The Health Ministry aims to develop health facilities according to national and international standards to ensure equal distribution of easily accessible health services.