JEDDAH — Jeddah's new dialysis center has received 38 patients since its opening, according to its director. Dr. Zuhair Abu Najm told Al-Madinah daily that the center, located on King Abdulaziz Road, consists of three floors, has 204 dialysis machines and is staffed with doctors and nurses. He said: “The third floor has eight separate rooms for medical isolation of hepatitis and HIV patients, and other contagious diseases. “In addition, the center operates two four-shifts and will be able to accommodate more than 800 patients when it is fully operational.” The head of the kidney department at the National Guards Hospital, Dr. Sulaiman Ahmad, said the institution is establishing a number of similar projects to provide free treatment to kidney patients. He noted that this huge national project will be staffed with internationally experienced medical staff to ensure that the quality of service meets international standards. This project is the first of a line of series of initiatives to establish dialysis centers in a number of cities in the Kingdom and ensure 1,000 dialysis machines will be available for patients throughout the country. Riyadh and Jeddah will have 475 machines between them, while the second phase will include centers in Makkah, Madinah, Hail, Qasim, and Rafha, offering 230 machines in total. The third phase will include centers in other cities that will be decided later and will offer 295 machines in total. It is hoped that the centers will be able to accommodate 5,000 patients within seven years.
