The Saudi Arabian ministry of health has completed 20% of the first phase of the King Faisal Medical City project and expects to deliver the entire first phase by the second quarter of 2014, with the second phase expected to be complete at the end of 2015, executive manager of KFMC Dr. Ahmed Al Nami told Zawya.
"This is two years in advance of the scheduled completion date, but the cost is likely to overshoot the targeted budget of USD 1.1 billion," Dr. Al Nami said.
Recent data from the health ministry show that the kingdom had 34,370 hospital beds in 2010 and 59,169 in 2011, a number that is expected to increase to 63,930 by 2015, driven by projects like KFMC. Saudi Arabia spent about USD 18.5 billion or 5% of GDP on health care in 2009, according to research from Alpen Capital.
Being built in the Southern Province of Saudi Arabia, KFMC is a 262,836-square-meter, 1,350-bed medical city that includes a 500-bed main hospital, a specialized eye hospital, a heart and neuroscience hospital, a physical therapy center, 200 housing units, 200 apartments for staff and an unspecified number of hotels. Construction began in March 2012.
In February 2012, health minister Dr. Abdullah Al-Rabeeah signed a contract worth USD 171.2 million with Al-Fawzan Trading and Contracting Company to build the 500-bed main hospital that comprises the first phase of the project.
The Saudi health ministry has a USD 4.27 billion budget for the current fiscal year for the construction of health care facilities in different parts of the country.
© Zawya 2012
