DAMMAM — The Third Industrial City in Dammam recently witnessed the launch of operations at the "Rawand" Medical Factory to manufacture various medical products and supplies, including facemasks, alcohol wipes, headgear and stents in addition to surgical clothing and requirements for people with special needs. The factory, which is situated on an area exceeding 10,300 sq. meters, is expected to produce 48,000 facemasks daily. The Director General of The Saudi Authority for Industrial Cities and Technology Zones, also known simply as MODON, Eng. Khaled Al-Salem said: "The "Rawand" factory is the first of its kind in the Third Industrial City in Dammam." "It will enhance the capacity of the medical factories in our industrial cities to contribute to meeting the needs of the local market for various medical supplies, within the sphere of countering the impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on the national economy," he said. He added that the daily products of the "Rawand" factory include producing 48,000 facemasks at present, as a start, and in future to produce alcohol swabs and a medical head covering, in addition to supports for the knee, elbow and ankle. The factory's products will include various medical supplies, including various surgical clothing and accessories for people with special needs, noting that the coronavirus pandemic has led to high levels of local demand for all kinds of medical products. Al-Salem said that the eastern sector, according to the structure of "cities", includes six industrial cities with 19 medical factories, between productive factories and those under construction. Meanwhile, the number of medical factories in all industrial cities rose to about 150 between those that are already productive and others under construction, indicating that the medical fields include pharmaceutical industries, including the manufacture of cancer drugs, psychotropics and antibiotics. In addition, these factories manufacture medical sterilizers and vitamins, medical supplies such as medical tubes and medical protective clothing (PPEs) and cosmetics, he said. Eng. Al Salem stressed that the rate of growth of pharmaceutical activities, in terms of industrial contracts, amounted to about 70 percent during the year 2019 compared to 2018. He noted the rise to the ease of procedures and incentives that have succeeded in attracting many local and international investments to the industrial cities, especially in the medical sector, as well as the conducive industrial environment that make it possible to start production operations in the shortest time and at the lowest cost available.
