KUWAIT: Health Assurance Hospitals Company (Dhaman) celebrated the completion of the Dhaman hospital building in Ahmadi governorate in the presence of Managing Director of the Public Investment Authority and several medical and business dignitaries. This represents an important step towards achieving the company's strategy that aims at completing its health system, present medical services and enhance healthcare indicators in Kuwait.
"We celebrate today the completion of the building of Dhaman's first hospital, the crowning of many years of efforts during which we overcame many challenges in cooperation with our partners at the health ministry and other government entities," Dhaman Chairman Mutlaq Mubarak Al-Sane said. "Dhaman fulfilled an important and basic step in completing its health system, and we are now at the stage of getting the required licenses in cooperation with the health ministry.
Nearly 660 beds
This hospital is a major element in our plan to establish an integrated health system that includes hospitals with a capacity of nearly 660 beds and several primary care centers, distributed across governorates to serve the national strategy for healthcare in Kuwait, which aims at improving health services and reduce the financial burden on Kuwaiti government entities at the same time," he said.
"We at Dhaman do not consider this event particular to the company; rather we see it as an important addition to the health sector within Dhaman's vision of its role to enhance health indicators and leadership in developing this vital sector in Kuwait. We went a long way in completing and constructing the medical company's facilities and we are proud of this advanced medical facility, which forms part of our vision to be the leading entity in providing integrated health services, which includes primary and secondary healthcare centers, in addition to wide-ranging allied services and professional medical development and training," Sane said.
Sane said Dhaman seeks to create a solid health base that prepares for sustainable health development that goes with Kuwait's interest in developing the medical system in agreement with the government's future view to make the private health sector a strong one that shares with the government sector in providing health services to citizens and residents.
Sane said the completion of construction of this hospital and the completion of the first stage of the company's workplan does not mean pausing at these achievements; rather they form a launchpad towards more expansion and growth in the coming stages by adding more health facilities, hospitals, centers and more services, with focus on professional training and development of medical personnel to meet the needs of the targeted groups.
"The hospital will be operated in cooperation with an international expert in managing a health system of this size, the Spanish Ribera Salud group, which is experienced in presenting healthcare for more than 30 years in Spain and several other countries, in line with implementing the Dhaman model and applying the best international standards and practices in managing and presenting medical services," Sane said.
Largest development projects
Sane concluded by saying Dhaman is one of the largest development plan projects in Kuwait as far as capital is concerned (KD 230 million), and the first initiative to support the local medical sector, which considered the largest sector that bleeds the state's budget, as Dhaman will work to improve healthcare indicators, make a qualitative move for the health sector and reduce the financial and administrative burdens on government entities, in addition to backing economic diversification through healthcare by presenting its services to expats working in the private sector (article 18) and their families.
Managing Director of Public Investment Authority Ghanem Al-Ghunaiman said the project of Dhaman hospitals is one of the development plan's projects, and may be unique in being directed towards enhancing the level of the healthcare sector, which is considered one of the most important sector of the national economy, with huge amounts of financial resources directed towards it every year in the state's general budget.
PIA was keen to play a basic and vital role in the company's works since the early stages of its establishment until reaching the current stage, that is near completion of its system through presenting all possible support to the company since the start of its work through contributing to its work through contributing to its capital and playing an important role in the work of the board of directors, because it will allow many capabilities to improve medical services presented to citizens within the health ministry system because it will bear the burdens of primary and secondary healthcare for almost 1.8 million residents who work in the private sector and their families.
Ghunaiman said Kuwaiti citizens are main partners in the company's capital, as 50 percent of the company's capital was allocated to them, hoping to invite them to underwrite the capital and that will be followed by listing the company on Boursa Kuwait. Ghunaiman concluded his statement by stressing the importance of cooperation of all concerned parties to reach the developmental goal the company was established for, and soon become an auxiliary to the health ministry system and contribute to stimulate the growth of non-oil economic activities and create new job opportunities for citizens.
Ambassador of China to Kuwait Zhang Jianwei participated in the event, saying the opening of the Dhaman hospital was due to consolidated efforts between Dhaman and China's Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) during past years, which is evidence of the Chinese push towards alignment between the Belt and Road Initiative and the New Kuwait 2035 vision.
He said the Kuwaiti government pays great importance to the medical and health field, strengthened general health services projects and exerted extreme efforts for continued improvement of the medical level, and Dhaman as the first healthcare establishment in the Middle East by public private partnership (PPP) is one of the most important pillars of the health sector in Kuwait's 2035 vision.
Chairman of Kuwait Medical Association Ibrahim Al-Tawalah said joint efforts between the health ministry and Dhaman will reflect on the services at the healthcare centers and health ministry hospitals. He said the activation of Dhaman's services will positively affect not only the beneficiaries, but also citizens, who will get better services as crowding is reduced at health ministry centers.
Tawalah spoke about job opportunities the medical facilities of Dhaman will create in hospitals and primary health centers, be it for the local workforce or from outside, as one of the most important projects in Kuwait's government New Kuwait 2035 plan.
"We employed all our efforts in the project of building Dhaman hospitals, and worked hard to reach the current stage - the completion of the building - declaring our readiness for the next step. We hope efforts with the health ministry will be quick to get the necessary licenses, especially those related to medical cadres, so that we can complete the health system and start presenting primary and secondary healthcare services according to health maintenance organization (HMO), which means we will work according to an integrated healthcare system," Dhaman CEO Thamer Arab said in a press conference following the ceremony.
Arab said the hospital will constitute a quality addition to the medical sector. It is built on a total area of 85,000 sq m spread over 5 floors and a basement, with a capacity of 330 beds. It has 14 operation theaters, 21 ICUs, 75 outpatient clinics, a digital pharmacy, x-ray centers, labs and emergency departments, as well as a helipad.
Arab said the hospital has the latest in healthcare technology, achieved according to the most modern services standards. He said the hospital has a pharmacy equipped with an automated system (Omnicell) to dispense and deliver medicines. He added Dhaman has received accreditation from Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and accreditation of Joint Commission International (JCI) for all primary care centers.
Chief Strategy and Growth Officer Santiago Delgado said "we are happy to work in Kuwait with Dhaman, which is considered the first company to adopt an advanced model to maintain health in the Middle East, and we felt Dhaman's keenness to implement its strategy to present its services to a large group of population".