Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud on Thursday, the 21st of May, 2015 will sponsor opening a number of medical projects in the National Guard at King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh.
His Royal Highness Prince Miteb bin Abdullah bin Abdulaziz, Minister of the National Guard, expressed his gratitude and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for this kind gesture and the great support towards the National Guard and its sectors, especially the National Guard Health Affairs, some of which are projects that reflects the current medical and health renaissance in the Kingdom. Moreover, Prince Miteb pointed out that such patronage by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques reflects outmost interest in the health of the citizen, and the development of the health sector, which became a prominent headline in the Kingdom, due to the continuous progress and the advanced specialized operations.
In addition, His Excellency Chief Executive Director of Ministry of National Guard - Health Affairs Dr. Bandar Al Knawy, appraise the patronage of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques to launch new medical projects, which he described it as a developmental emblems in this his auspicious era, pointing out that the health sector at the MNGHA has an achievement record that honors our nation, stressing that the development wheel does not stop in this sector, which contributes significantly to the Kingdoms medical achievements.
H.E Dr. Al Knawy also raised his gratitude and appreciation to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud for supporting and encouraging affairs that boosts the country and the citizens esteem, including valuable guidelines that will elevate the health services provided to citizens and residents, adding that the projects which will be launched by King Salman includes King Abdullah Specialist Children's Hospital, King Abdullah International Medical Research Center and the Central laboratory. Furthermore, he stressed that the launching of these projects will enhance the capabilities of the medical sector in our beloved country and raise the quality levels of health services provided to citizens.
It is worth mentioning that King Abdullah Specialist Children’s Hospital is the first medical referral institute in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, occupying 192,000 m2, over 10 storeys, with a total bed capacity of 600. The hospital consists of three towers rising 11 floors, the first and second towers are allocated to provide children with superior medical care with the capacity of 364 beds in single rooms, distributed as 40 beds for Intensive Care, 48 beds for Oncology and bone marrow transplant patients, 8 beds for Psychiatry and 4 beds for Burns. On the other hand, the third tower is allocated for Adults and includes an Oncology Center with a capacity of 100 single rooms beds as well as Organ Transplant Surgery Centre with a capacity of 78 beds single rooms .
The three towers share a basements to include several vital sections and therapeutic units, such as the Emergency Medicine Department that has been fully equipped to receive injured children, the department contains 57 examination and treatment rooms .
The Paediatric Day Care for conducting minor operations contains 30 beds with seven private rooms and 8 blood drawing chairs, while the Radiotherapy section has 20 beds equipped with the latest cutting-edge technologies, and 16 surgical rooms equipped with state of the art surgical equipment, along with 10 beds for Anesthesia, and 26 Pre-operative and recovery beds for adults and children, and last but not least, the Specialized Outpatient Clinic Center.
In regards to King Abdullah International Medical Research Center, it is one of the leading projects in the development, support and deployment of scientific research necessary to generate cutting-edge scientific research that helps improve the health of the population along with creating an innovative research infrastructure which incorporates the highest standard of ethics in all research and healthcare practices. Besides this center in Riyadh, KAIMRC also has two branches located in the eastern and the western regions.
The center includes a three-level biosafety laboratories including 55 multi-use labs, 28 general labs, Operation rooms, Radiology rooms, DNA Bank, Genetic Tissue Bank, blood bank, laboratory Database and serology, microscopic particles lab, biochemistry and microbiology lab, and finally an immunology lab.
KAIMRC most prominent achievements is establishing the Stem Cell Bank, which plays a key role in understanding disease factors and the development of appropriate treatment for each disease. In addition, the Saudi Stem Cells Donor Registry which was founded for the purpose of forming a donors database for patients in need of Stem Cell transplantand the treatment of some chronic diseases (blood cancers and genetic diseases). Currently, the Saudi Stem Cells Donor Registry has been linked worldwide to stem cells registries in King Abdullah International Medical Research Center laboratories.
Similarly, the aim of the Central Laboratory in King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh is to provide analysis and referral lab services while maintaining the quality of laboratory analysis in accordance with the highest international standards through accreditation programs, and providing educational programs for training the national cadres in the field.
The Central Laboratory will serve King Abdulaziz Medical City in Riyadh and all of the Ministry of National Guard health facilities kingdom wide, through the provision of a comprehensive list of clinical routine tests and advanced analysis using the latest technology in the areas of Molecular Genetics and Genomics, Biochemistry Genetics, Embryos preimplantation genetic diagnosis for screening, Cytogenetics and Cellular Genome, Molecular Oncology, Histology and cell disease, Electron Microscopy, Clinical Microbiology, Cellular Immunology and Vaccines, Hematology, Clinical Chemistry and Toxicology.
Finally, the Central Laboratory also contains classrooms, meeting rooms for Quality Management Services, Business Development and for educational and administrative purposes.