Work on $20mln healthcare facility set to begin soon in Bahrain

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WORK on a first-of-its-kind healthcare facility in Bahrain, which will offer rehabilitation services to patients from across the region, will start in the coming months.

The $20 million state-of-the-art centre is the latest project from the Kims Bahrain Healthcare (KBH) group.

It will offer rehabilitative care for trauma patients and those who have undergone major surgeries, in partnership with the French healthcare group Clinea.

The 10-storey purpose-built 110-bed facility will come up on a plot adjacent to the newly-opened Kims Health Hospital (KHH) in Umm Al Hassam. It will also accomodate more than 30 outpatients a day.

Kims Healthcare Group chief executive Dr Sheriff Sahadulla revealed the details as he spoke to the GDN yesterday on the sidelines of a Press conference held at the KBH.

He explained that the new centre would cater to various categories of patients – ‘those who have had a major cardiac surgery or require pulmonary rehabilitation following a severe lung infection, those who have had a stroke and require neurological rehabilitation, or trauma patients who have extensive injuries and require further care’.

“There are patients who are ready to be discharged from a hospital but may not be physically able to go home,” Dr Sahadulla said.

“We will offer post-acute care to such patients in partnership with the French company – one of the leaders in the field with more than 70,000 beds in countries ranging from Brazil to China and predominantly in Europe.

“We’re bringing in the experts to Bahrain, partnering with them, to provide a service and additionally home care.”

Dr Sahadulla said the land is ready for construction with building approvals and plans drawn up.

Work on the project had been paused because of the Covid-19 pandemic and will resume in the next quarter, he added.

The rehab centre will be the seventh KBH facility in Bahrain, which currently has four medical clinics and two hospitals in the country. The first clinic – the Kims Bahrain Medical Centre - was set up in 2004 in Umm Al Hassam, which was also the country’s first private healthcare facility.

The other clinics are in Janabiya, Askar and Muharraq, and the two hospitals are the Royal Bahrain Hospital in Zinj which opened in 2011 and KHH in Umm Al Hassam which started functioning in 2020.

Elaborating on the group’s goals, Dr Sahadulla highlighted the patient-centric approach which he said was his team’s ‘primary focus’.

“With quality healthcare delivery, we have become successful, both in India as well as the GCC,” he said.

“We have five hospitals and three medical centres in India, and three hospitals and 13 medical centres across the Middle East, with close to 2,000 beds and 75 per cent occupancy.

“We employ more than 900 doctors and 3,200 allied health professionals who take care of 7,000 outpatients a day.”

Bahrain is the GCC headquarters of the group.

KBH chairman and RBH president Ahmed Jawahery said the group was hoping to open more facilities in the country.

“We are also happy to announce that we will open more medical centres and hospitals down the road because we want to be close to the citizens of Bahrain,” Mr Jawahery said.

The Press conference was also attended by Kims Healthcare Group GCC operations executive director Jacob Thomas, KHH director Ali Jawahery and KHH chief operating officer Tariq E N.