Saudi’s Madinah Hospitals Complex to be transformed into medical city
Kingdom’s healthcare expenditure is expected to grow due to growth in the population, rising costs of treatments and increased health insurance coverage
The Madinah Hospitals Complex is to be expanded into a medical city, following a meeting of the Saudi cabinet that was chaired by King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud.
According to a statement, the existing complex comprises the General Hospital (500 bed capacity), the Obstetrics, Gynecology and Children’s Hospital (500 beds) and the Al Amal Complex for Mental Health (246 beds). The Al Madinah Obstetrics, Gynecology and Children’s Hospital are said to have recently secured full institutional accreditation from the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties for a period of four years.
The Al Amal Complex for Mental Health at Madinah has buildings for emergency, ICU, outpatient clinics, and supportive services of pharmacies, radiology departments, laboratories, as well as ancillary buildings. It also features eight villas for hospitalisation involving mental and addiction treatment, two entertainment centres, in addition to a variety of recreation facilities for patient service, the statement explained.
The expansion aligns with predictions from industry experts that the Kingdom will invest more money into healthcare in the coming years.
Alpen Capital noted that Saudi Arabia’s healthcare expenditure is set to rise from an estimated $44.3bn in 2017 to $59.5bn in 2022, growing at a CAGR of 6.1%. The firm attributed the jump to a CAGR of 2% in the population, rise in the cost of treatment and increase in health insurance coverage.
Real estate consultancy firm Knight Frank also said that Saudi Arabia would require an additional 20,000 beds by 2035.
