More than 37 health care projects worth SR 7.7 billion have been suspended recently throughout the Kingdom due to a lack of land plots, a local newspaper reported.
Riyadh ranked at the top of the list in this regard, whereby nine projects worth SR 3.2 billion that were scheduled to be executed in the capital are still awaiting the availability of lands. These projects involved three hospitals, 15 integrated clinics, a medical unit specialized for children and a recovery house for people with mental illness.
The other suspended health care projects are distributed across ten other regions, mostly in Makkah and the Eastern Province, while Najran and Hail were both not listed amongst the cities facing this problem.
The total bed capacity for the Health Ministry’s deferred projects is estimated at around 2,550 beds, which amounts to a third of the total bed capacity of hospitals and medical institutions across the country.
The health care facilities established by the Ministry of Health have been estimated to cost SR 48.8 billion, of which hospitals comprised SR 25.5 billion, specialized centers amounted to SR 2 billion and medical cities SR 16.2 billion.
Land crunch holds up many health projects
