Asir Governor His Royal Highness Prince Faisal bin Khaled bin Abdulaziz, in the presence of the Health Minister Dr. Tawfiq Al Rabiah, has inaugurated a number of health projects in the region, at a total cost of SR 350M, at Asir Central Hospital. Upon his arrival at the hospital, he cut the ribbon of world-quality developmental projects at the hospital. Then, he toured the hospital's departments and clinics, where he was briefed by Director-General of the Health Affairs Dr. Mohammed bin Ali Al-Habdan, on the key services provided by the hospital.
After that, the Governor attended the inaugural ceremony held at Prince Faisal bin Khaled Hall of Asir Central Hospital. The ceremony started with recitation of the Holy Quran, followed by a speech by Dr. Al-Rabiah who welcomed the Governor of Asir and thanked him for sponsoring and inaugurating the region's health projects.
"The achievements are maintained under the reign of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the Crown Prince, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense HRH Prince Muhammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, may Allah protect them. These health project, valued at more than SR 350M, highlighted the support and ongoing attention paid by the wise leadership to the health services", explained Al-Rabiah.
He went on saying that the provision of a safe and healthy working environment that is compatible with quality's requirement and standards was a goal behind developing the infrastructure project of Asir central hospital, amounted to more than SR 152M, as well as other developmental projects worth SR 161M, including ICU development, adding 23 beds, inaugurating one-day surgery section.
"Vital projects have been added, including preparing and furnishing Prince Faisal bin Khaled Cardiac Center, with a capacity of 72 beds (of which 22 beds for cardiac care) and two catheter labs worth SR 189M, with a personal support from the Governor, in addition to establishing a regional laboratory and poison control center, developing emergency transport system and constructing residential towers at Maternity and Children Hospital, Khamis Mushayt" he said.
Al-Rabiah confirmed that the projects will achieve a qualitative shift in the health services provided for the advanced cases in Asir region, through increasing the ICU bed capacity to quickly accepting the critical cases, reducing waiting lists, performing open heart surgeries (to be operated shortly) at Prince Faisal bin Khaled Center and reducing referrals from private sector hospitals, from outside the region.
Concluding his speech, Al-Rabiah thanked the Governor of Asir for his continued support to the region's health sector, all colleagues of the health affairs and staff of the health facilities for efforts exerted to upgrade performance and improve the health services provided for the citizens in line with the Saudi Vision 2030.
After that, the Governor and attendees watched a presentation on the region's health projects including the infrastructure project of Asir Central Hospital worth SR 285,575,234, regional laboratory project, poison and forensic chemistry center at a total cost of SR 66M, which have been built at the highest quality and safety standards. It provides its services to Asir and Najran regions and Bisha Province, through establishment of specialized medical sections that are equipped with state-of-the-art equipment and technologies, including public health and infectious respiratory diseases lab, the sixth accredited lab for corona testing in the Kingdom.
The film featured a genetic testing laboratory which is the-fourth-of-its-kind in the Kingdom, flow cytometry laboratory, the-fifth-of-its-kind in the Kingdom, forensic chemistry, drug and narcotics center, in addition to ICU development project at Asir Central Hospital at a total cost of SR 61,298,205, raising its bed capacity to 50 patients. They are developed at the highest international standards. Also, some beds were designated with dialysis outlets, two rooms for gastrointestinal bleeding and four isolation rooms.
The film also featured construction of two residential towers for nurses at Khamis Mushayt Maternity and Children Hospital (completed in 36 months) at a cost of SR 32,391,414 and King Abdulaziz Daughters & Charitable Center for Kidney Disease project including 74 dialysis chairs accommodating around 300 patients, which was renovated in compliance with standards and specifications provided for in the partnership contract. Moreover, it featured emergency transport system development project (rapid medical intervention) at a total cost of two millions and two hundred thousand riyals, which is one of the main factors that contribute to saving patients' lives. The emergency and disasters management of Asir Affairs has been provided with two ambulances equipped with a mobile ICU unit, two four-wheel-drive medical support vehicles used for accidents and disasters, as well as implementing drug and medical supplies storage project at Asir Central Hospital at SR 313,630.
Then, Prince Faisal inaugurated the theme of Asir health conference and listened to a brief account on the conference's identity from Director of the Hospital, Dr. Ahmed Al-Hazaie. He also reviewed a number of partnerships with Asir Health Affairs and government departments.
At the end of the ceremony, the Governor honored a number of supportive bodies and participants in implementation of the health projects in the region. He received a memorial gift from the Health Minister.