Twenty-two Intensive Care Units throughout the Kingdom have been linked to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of King Faisal Specialist Hospital (KFSH) in Riyadh.The Executive Supervisor General for the General Organization for King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH & RC) Dr. Qassim Bin Othman Al-Qassabi told Okaz/Saudi Gazette that the project aims to provide specialist care to all intensive care patients by the end of 2012. Al-Qassabi said: “The Remote Intensive Care Monitoring Center has a specialist medical team working round the clock providing direct consultations and medical support for ICUs in hospitals in different regions of the Kingdom linked to the ICU at KFSH.” Meanwhile, the Director of the Health Cooperation Affairs Administration at KFSH & RC Dr. Fahd Al-Eraifi said the sophisticated service enables ICU doctors to contact the ICU consultant doctor round the clock through a computerized unified number and a telephone which is directly linked to the specialist hospital. Once the consultant doctor on duty at KFSH receives the call, he will immediately begin to coordinate and carry out the required measures by a medical and administrative team allocated for this service. Dr. Al-Eraifi said: “Were it not for the close cooperation between KFSH & RC on the one hand and the directors of health affairs in different regions on the other, this project would not have been materialized.” He thanked all Ministry of Health workers, directorates of health affairs and government hospitals for making the project a success. The new service will be run at KFSH & RC by a team of consultant doctors who specialize in intensive care. They carry out daily monitoring from 8:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. with support from nurses, technicians, psychiatry specialists and administrators specialized in the field. They also employ the services of specialists in different fields, if necessary. A team has also been dispatched from the Education and Training Administration to provide support to the ICU nursing staff in over 12 referral hospitals. The twenty hospitals which are connected to the new service are Central Asir, King Fahd in Al-Baha, King Fahd Specialist in Buraidah, Obstetrics and Pediatrics in Buraidah, Central Dammam Complex, King Khaled in Hafr Al-Batin, King Khaled in Hail, King Fahd in Al-Hofouf, King Fahd Central in Jizan, King Fahd in Madina, King Khaled in Najran, King Khaled in Tabuk, Children and Maternity in Madina, Maternity and Children in Al-Jouf, Al-Qunfudha General, King Abdulaziz Specialist in Taif, Al-Rass General, Ar'ar General, King Abdullah in Bisha, Al-Qateef Central, King Saud in Unaizah and the Royal Commission Hospital in Jubail. __
