Saudi group plans hospital, university project in Dubai

Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital (DSFH), Saudi Arabia’s premier health care concept, is set to build a AED1 billion hospital and medical university project in Dubai Silicon Oasis (DSO), the integrated free zone technology park in the UAE.
Based in Jeddah, DSFH is one of the largest private hospitals in the Middle East with a total capacity of 600 beds.
The project is set for completion in 2017. The medical university will follow by mid-2019, said a DSO source
The planned university hospital will offer 4,000 new jobs for Saudis, Emiratis and others.
Mohammed Al-Zarooni, vice chairman and CEO of DSOA, and Dr. Mazen Fakeeh, president and chairman of the board of Dr. Soliman Fakeeh Hospital, signed the agreement at the DSOA headquarters.
“In our long-standing experience with health care services in Saudi Arabia, we have seen, experienced and treated various illnesses that are peculiar to this region,” Dr. Fakeeh said after signing the agreement.
“Our guiding motto is to utilize and impart the knowledge gained over the years in the field to bring about a marked improvement in health services for residents here. By extending our reach to Dubai from our new premises at the high-tech park, we hope to provide our quality health care to a wider cross-section of GCC residents,” said the chairman.
“We have taken special care to optimally design the hospital for the convenience of patients. As one of the few teaching hospitals in the UAE, we hope to train and enhance the supply of health care professionals who can take their rightful place in the country’s medical resource pool,” Dr. Fakeeh added.
Al-Zarooni said the move to host the hospital and the medical university in DSO is in accordance with the directive of Sheikh Mohammad bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice-president and prime minister of the UAE and ruler of Dubai, to develop the medical tourism industry. The initiative is also a step forward in the implementation of the official strategy to make Dubai a hub for medical tourism,“Al-Zarooni said.
“According to recent statistics, the number of medical tourists receiving treatment is estimated to increase by 15 percent each year. Additionally, health care spending in the UAE is expected to reach AED40 billion by 2015, while medical tourists are set to cross the 20 million mark for the same period,” Al-Zarooni added.
“We are confident that their vision to create a premier medical academic institution matches and balances our efforts to provide a better quality of life to DSO’s residents,” he said.
This project will tick all the boxes through value health treatments, best medical advice, job creation and, most importantly, the creation of a dependable knowledge in the health field that will benefit this region,” he said.
The university hospital will be constructed in two phases on a 150,000 square meter land. The hospital will offer medical services with the new 300-bed teaching hospital.
Equipped to offer secondary and tertiary medical services supported by comprehensive diagnostic centers, the hospital will primarily focus on family and patient-centered services, catering to 700,000 patients per year, with an estimated 40,000 admissions and 20,000 surgical operations.
The proposed hospital will also function as a full-service medical institution, provisioned with centers of excellence in medical and surgical sub-specialties; mother and child health, cardiology and spine surgery, plastic and cosmetic laser surgery, as well as obesity management.
Named after its patron institution, the Fakeeh Medical University has been designed to complement the new hospital’s academic care delivery setup.
The university will additionally offer its students opportunities for wider exposure, through international affiliations for exchange programs with the best medical schools in the world.
In addition, Fakeeh Medical University will partner with local universities, including the Rochester Institute of Technology in DSO, American University of Sharjah, Al Ain University and Dubai Academic City to help foster collaboration among medical students, researchers and clinical care providers.
The university hospital, along with the Fakeeh Medical University, will look to offer theoretical and practical instruction in varied fields.