The Governor of Riyadh, His Royal Highness Prince Khalid bin Bandar bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, launched today noon the expansion project of the clinics, support services and developmental services at King Khalid Eye Specialist Hospital (KKESH), in the presence of the Deputy Governor of the Riyadh, His Royal Highness Prince Turki bin Abdullah Al Saud, His Excellency the Minister of Health Dr. Abdullah Bin AbdulAziz Al Rabeeah, the two Vice Ministers and a number of the Ministry of Health’s officials.
These projects come as a new manifestation of the unlimited support from the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, may Allah save him, to health services in order to provide comprehensive healthcare to citizens of this beloved country, confirming the slogan “Patient First”.
The current expansion to the hospital added a capacity of about 50% to glaucoma clinics, pediatric ophthalmology clinics, beauty clinics, pilgrims’ clinics as well as the internal medicine clinics, as the hospital approximately receives 1.000 patients a day.
Moreover, the expansion included the addition of a small operation room, thus bringing the number of small operation rooms at the hospital to two, in addition to 17 big operating rooms. Also, the expansion of the external pharmacy, patients’ waiting room by 400%, the expansion of the internal pharmacy by 35%, the eye bank, medical eligibility by 54%, the lab and employees’ health, as well as the expansion of operation scheduling by 25%.
The hospital seeks to provide ultimate, specialized health services to patients and visitors as it is deemed to be a referral hospital which receives rare, complex and intractable cases that need specialized care and attention.
In the past four years, the hospital has attained many accomplishments, most important of which is completing waiting lists, attaining local and global quality and accreditation certifications, as well as the great advancement in the field of training, research to greatly serve and treat patients by visiting regions.
In addition, the hospital managed to resolve the waiting lists dilemma, as they were over by the end of 2012 in all subspecialties in the hospital.
The hospital obtained the Joint Commission International (JCI) Accreditation Standards for Hospitals in 2011 for the fourth consecutive year since it was established. Moreover, the hospital was the first to obtain the European Health Promoting Hospitals (HPH) membership in the region for the fourth year in a raw. In 2012, the Specialization Fellowship Program was accredited for 7 specialties in ophthalmology by the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties (SCFHS) in 2011.
KKESH was linked with Johns Hopkins University, School of Medicine, in the United States, where a group of doctors are sent to work at the hospital and contribute with their colleagues at KKESH to treating patients, training and conducting research.
KKESH succeeded to conduct implant operations of “retinal prosthetic for the visually impaired”. It is worth mentioning that such operations are only conducted in a few centers in Europe and the United States. Moreover, the hospital conducted cataract operations using the (VM to second laser) device technology. There are two laser devices operated for that purpose. KKESH is currently working on establishing a stem cell laboratory for the eye bank.
In 2009-2012, KKESH has conducted many medical interventions on patients; as 585.332 patients were tested in clinics. 126.935 patients were tested in the emergency section. 54926 new patients files were opened. 43.915 major operations were conducted, while 13.482 minor operations were conducted. Laser operations that were conducted in that period were 55.000.
Moreover, over the past four years, 4.895 organ transplant surgeries were operated, 3.972 of which were cornea transplant surgeries. 1958 corneas from the KKESH eye bank were provided to the Kingdom’s hospitals and centers in order to conduct cornea transplant surgeries.
It is worth mentioning that the hospital has increased specialized interns acceptance in order to obtain the 2-year ophthalmology Specialization Fellowship. In addition, in the past four years, 54 doctors have graduated from ophthalmology Specialization Program, commenced in the medical cooperation program with the Ministry of Health’s hospitals, and were sent to work in regions 24/7. Ophthalmology devices have been updated with the most recent technologies in peripheral areas, 5.047 patients have been tested, 618 surgeries were operated in 2012, and a surgical and educational center was established using anophthalmology surgery simulator device; where doctors are trained on surgeries beforehand.
KKESH has completed the infrastructure for the Research Division, employed qualified cadres at the department, and accepted 283 research requests; 99 of which are completed. Moreover, 259 papers in various medical fields were published. In the past four years, 413 research papers were reviewed in ophthalmology conferences. Currently, action is underway to complete the remainder, update and add new ophthalmology devices in the hospital, all beds in the hospital and 5 new additional operation rooms to be 17 in the hospital.
For his part, Dr. Al Rabeeah expressed his sincere gratitude and appreciation to the Governor of Riyadh and the Deputy Governor for their constant support to health services in Riyadh; which is in line with the supreme support of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques – may Allah save him - to provide comprehensive healthcare means to citizens of this beloved country. The support has been positively reflected on the accomplishments of plans and programs that aim at improving performance, serving patients, promoting the performance level of health practitioners and workers, and controlling diseases by early detection.
Dr. Al Rabeeah went on to add that, in the past few years, many achievements have been accomplished within the framework of a ten-year comprehensive strategic health plan adopted by the Ministry aiming at providing high quality health services at an international level under the slogan “Patient First” as part of the National Project for Integrated and Comprehensive Health Care; which was founded based on justice, inclusiveness and national, global standards.
The Minister of Health pointed out that the Ministry has worked to improve its services and establish more health projects, within the framework of the Ministry’s efforts to distribute health facilities among all regions and provinces of the Kingdom; in order to provide healthcare for patients and attain their satisfaction.
Furthermore, Dr. Al Rabeeah stated that these projects were escorted with a comprehensive movement to promote and develop the institutional and administrative work in the Ministry through establishing executive councils in the MOH Headquarter, health affairs directorates for the different regions in the Kingdom to ensure a collective evidence-based decision making process, improve the performance quality levels, insure safety to patients, implement e-health strategy, train and develop human competencies and create developmental programs.