Jaber hospital

KUWAIT: As part of moves towards implementing the Cabinet’s decision to invest in and manage Jaber Hospital, talks are heading towards an agreement with a British company, as chances of American and French companies are fading. Sources said the Kuwait Investment Authority, Finance Ministry, Fatwa and Legislation Department and the Secretariat General of the Supreme Planning Council, who were asked by the Cabinet to study the proposal, have agreed on the British company and the final decision may be announced in September. Jaber Hospital will be affiliated to the Mubarak Al-Kabeer health zone. Jaber Hospital is considered the largest hospital in the Middle East with a total of 1,168 beds.

The hospital also has three helipads, a parking lot with a 5,000 car capacity in addition to 50 ambulances. It also has a protective shelter. The hospital covers an area of 220 meters squared with a construction area reaching 725 meters squared. The minister said the hospital is considered an integrated health center. It has five towers of patient rooms at a height of nine floors and each tower can be expanded in the future.

He added that the hospital has eight entrances, 150 elevators, a catastrophe center which is considered the first of its kind in Kuwait in addition to a medical mall that is one kilometer long, containing various shops and resting areas for patients and visitors. Works to build the Jaber Hospital started in 2009 as Kuwait looked to expand its free-of-charge medical services provided to Kuwaiti citizens at its overcrowded public hospitals that are accessed by both Kuwaiti and expatriate patients. The hospital is slated to open before the end of the year, the health ministry said earlier this year.

By A Saleh