The Ministry of Health signed contracts worth SR430 million here Wednesday with a number of international companies to conduct studies, draft engineering designs and provide supervision and administration for King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah and King Khaled Medical City in the Eastern Province. Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health, signed the contracts at his office in Riyadh. King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, had ordered that the ministry be allocated SR16 billion for the two medical cities. Al-Rabeah said that King Fahd Medical City in the Central Region will only serve the Central region; King Abdullah Medical City will serve the Western region exclusively; King Faisal Medical City the Southern region; Prince Muhammad Bin Abdul Aziz City the Northern region; and King Khaled Medical City the Eastern Province. He said these contracts will see the completion of the Kingdom's remaining medical city projects. These cities have been designed to provide about 7,000 referral beds and include a number of specialist hospitals and oncology and neurosurgery centers. They will also provide facilities for complicated cardiac surgeries, kidney transplants, radiology treatment and rare medical conditions. The cities will ensure that citizens need not travel to other areas for routine and specialist treatment. They form part of the National Project for Integrated and Comprehensive Healthcare. Dr. Khaled Al-Shaibani, General Executive Manager of King Fahd Specialist Hospital in Dammam, said King Khaled Medical City is built on a 700,000 square meter area and has 1,500 beds consisting of a specialist ophthalmology hospital, cardiac hospital, neurosurgery and research center, and 200 outpatient clinics. He said the new city is completely independent from King Fahd Specialist Hospital in the region and will provide additional medical services in the region. Dr. Hassan Bakhamees, CEO of King Abdullah Medical City in the Western region, said the city is spread over an area of two million square meters and is located on the Makkah-Jeddah Highway.