JEDDAH – King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, Friday inaugurated 420 health projects and laid the foundation stones for 127 healthcare projects all over the Kingdom at a total cost of more than SR12 billion. The King touched an electronic screen to announce the inauguration of Haj health projects – a 236-bed Sharq Arafat Hospital and 10 primary healthcare centers – as well as 28 projects in different parts of the Kingdom including King Faisal Hospital in Taif, a 500-bed Maternity and Children's Hospital in Makkah, a 500-bed Maternity and Children's Hospital in Dammam, a 200-bed Southern Riyadh Hospital, a 200-bed Al-Quway'iah Hospital in Riyadh, a 100-bed Al-Badayeh Hospital in Al-Qassim and a 100-bed Medical Tower inside Jazan General Hospital. The Monarch also inaugurated an open-heart surgery center at King Abdullah Medical City in Makkah, 154 operating rooms and four diabetes centers in different regions, and 381 primary healthcare centers all over the Kingdom. Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeah, Minister of Health, said that with Friday's inauguration the number of hospitals and primary healthcare units operated by the ministry over the last three years has reached 54 and 645 respectively. He said that more than 29 hospitals and health institutes and 91 health centers were part of the projects inaugurated Friday by the King. Among the projects whose foundation stones were laid by the King were two medical cities in the north and south of the Kingdom and three medical cities, a specialist hospital, seven general hospitals, two medical towers, 73 digital operation rooms and 111 primary healthcare centers, the minister said. The ministry is also planning to build 122 hospitals and medical towers and 305 primary healthcare centers, and is planning to double the number of beds in all its hospitals over the next seven years in order to meet the needs of citizens, said Al-Rabeah. – SPA
