The current hospital has been established for 35 years, and it is well recognised that the current facility is not suitable for desired purpose, as the condition and layout of the main facility is not conducive to supporting a safe and good quality patient care environment. The various extensions to the building over time have resulted in a layout with poor patient flow between departments and with much clinical services and departments accommodated in cramped facilities. Despite these issues, the clinical staff are dedicated to providing the best service to patients, and have exerted their utmost efforts to facilitate work at the current facility.
According to the latest annual data provided by the hospital, the emergency department receives 7,900 cases weekly; a high proportion of them come with fractures or due to accidents, especially during Hajj and Umrah seasons. The emergency department weekly receives between 10,000 and 13,000 emergencies. Around 5,000 patients are examined a month across outpatient clinics; a significant proportion of which are for orthopaedics.
It is anticipated that the demand will continue to grow, due to the population growth on residential areas and the increasing number of visitors attending the Prophet’s Mosque, which is being developed to accommodate around 30 million pilgrims in 10 years.
Madinah has development plans to increase the hospitality sector on the land adjacent to the Prophet’s Mosque, including the land occupied by the existing site for the hospital. Therefore, it is proposed that the hospital will be re-developed on land within the vicinity of the mosque and city centre.
The primary function of hospital is to meet the needs of pilgrims and visitors. The analysis of the needs assessment study conducted by the technical advisors has shown that the vast majority of the current workload is geared towards this matter rather than serving the local population. Thus, all elective (i.e. planned) surgical activities are recommended to be cancelled from the site, meanwhile focusing only on emergency surgery for minor and intermediate cases, while major surgical cases should be referred to the medical city hospital.