An aerial view of Jaber Hospital, which is slated to be opened sometime during the first quarter of 2016.

KUWAIT: The Ministry of Health (MoH) set KD 1.33 million for a total of seven projects for expansion and establishment of hospitals in the country's governorates. The Ministry is following up on a strategy to cope with the structural plan of the country till 2010, allocating a total of 4,342 beds to all existing and new hospitals, Head of the health projects department at the Ministry Hisham Abulhasan said yesterday.

The MoH allocated a land of 81,000 square meters to establish Sabah Al-Ahmad Hospital in Sabah Al-Ahamd city, with a 7,000-bed capacity. New Al-Sabah Hospital in Al-Sabah medical area is among the new hospitals to be built at a cost of KD 178.9 million, with 771 beds capacity, he said.

Al-Amiri Hospital will witness increasing capacity to 446 beds, buying medical equipment, building outpatient clinics at KD 98 million, he added. By finishing the new Al-Amiri Hospital, the old Al-Amiri hospital will witness renewing its operations wards, and increasing them to nine.

Meanwhile, Al-Farwaniya Hospital expansion cost reached KD 265 million, in addition to increasing the bed capacity to 938. Al-Adan Hospital expansion cost stood at KD 231.9 million, with beds reaching 938. Expansion of the Communicable Disease Hospital cost KD 53.9 million with beds reaching 255.

Al-Razi Hospital expansion project was handed to the Ministry last October, at the cost of KD 33 million, with an increase in the number of beds to 240. Jaber Al-Ahmad Hospital is now handed to the Ministry of Public Works, while Al-Jahra Hospital is handed to the Amiri Diwan, as the hospitals expansion projects are scheduled to end in one year and a half.

Medical experts

Meanwhile, the MoH announced yesterday that it is set to welcome an international influx of doctors who will visit the country in January. The teams of specialists, representing eleven different Arab and European nations, come from some of the world's most prestigious medical institutions in Brazil, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United States, France and other countries.

In a press statement, Head of the Public Relations Department at the MoH Faisal Al-Dousari said that the visit serves as a platform for which to exchange ideas and discuss the latest research in the medical world. The doctors are comprised of pediatricians, dermatologists, neurologists, optometrists and plastic surgeons, the statement added.

Consulting with experts from an array of medical fields can only enhance the quality of medication in the country, Dousari said. The latest protocols and strategies will be examined, he added. Officials of the MoH routinely organize such initiatives in an effort to infuse some international expertise into the country's healthcare system. - KUNA