His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah recently presided over the opening ceremony of the New Ahmadi Hospital. The opening ceremony for the newly constructed hospital was also attended by His Highness the Crown Prince Sheikh Nawaf Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, His Highness the Prime Minister Sheikh Jaber Al-Mubarak Al-Hamad Al-Sabah, Speaker of the National Assembly Marzouq Al-Ghanim, Minister of Oil and Minister of Water and Electricity Essam Al-Marzouq, and a number of Ministers, Government officials and senior officials from KPC and its subsidiaries.
In a speech he delivered at the event, Minister of Oil Essam Al-Marzouq thanked His Highness the Amir for his guidance and continuous support to the oil sector. He maintained that the opening of the New Ahmadi Hospital displayed the leadership's interest in bolstering health services in the country. He also revealed that under the orders and guidelines of His Highness the Amir, Kuwait has begun looking into ways to introduce renewable forms of energy into the country’s energy mix.
KOC CEO Jamal Abdul Aziz Jaafar also delivered a speech during the event in which he welcomed His Highness the Amir and the Kuwaiti leadership to the New Ahmadi Hospital. He affirmed that the human element was KOC’s most valuable asset and that the Company was proud to offer the best possible care for its employees. The New Ahmadi Hospital, which is operated by KOC, will look after the medical needs of approximately 120,000 individuals from Kuwait’s oil and gas industry.
In his speech, Jaafar also said that the construction of the hospital fell in line with the industry’s 2030 Development Strategy, particularly in terms of caring for the oil sector’s human resources.
Two videos were also screened during the opening ceremony. The first covered the important role Human Resources plays for KOC while the second provided an overview of the features of the new hospital.
At the conclusion of the ceremony His Highness the Amir, as well as His Highness the Crown Prince, received commemorative gifts from KOC.
Kuwait Oil Company has a long history of caring for its employees and their families, which was exemplified, in part, in 1960 when the Company opened Ahmadi Hospital. Later, in the 1980s, a decision was made to open Ahmadi Hospital’s doors to the entire oil sector, a decision which greatly benefited a large number of individuals but also placed an increase amount of traffic and responsibility on the aging hospital.
Today, Ahmadi Hospital offers a wide range of medical treatment and related services, including Accident & Emergency, General Practice, Internal Medicine, General Surgery, Orthopedics, Dermatology, Obstetrics & Gynecology, Pediatrics, Ophthalmology, Ear, Nose & Throat, Dentistry, Preventative Medical Services, Radiology, Anesthesia, an Intensive Care Laboratory, Physiotherapy, and Dietary Services. In addition, consultative clinics are conducted once a week by consultants from the Ministry of Health.
There is no doubt that Ahmadi Hospital has done a commendable job of caring for oil workers for more than 50 years; however, in recent years KOC decided that the time was right to construct a new and modern hospital complex featuring the latest in medical technologies. The New Ahmadi Hospital has the ambitious goal of catering not only to all KOC and oil sector families, but also to the residents of Ahmadi, whose surrounding area has a population of close to 400,000.
The New Ahmadi Hospital and residencies will occupy a four-story building that has a combined floor space of approximately 80,000 square meters which provides room for 300 beds with provision for a 100 bed future expansion wing and a fully serviced medical facility that encompasses all medical services. The new residential facility on the site consists of five buildings which are approximately 10,000 square meters each on two levels which incorporate a total of 254 studio apartments complete with surface parking for resident doctors and nurses.
More than11,000 medical items ranging from high-tech MRI scanners to wheelchairs were procured for the new facility. All in all, this equipment will provide a state-of-the-art hospital that will serve Kuwait’s oil sector well into the future.
The New Ahmadi Hospital has an innovative and functional design that is sensitive to regional and Islamic principles and traditions, as well as reflecting local environmental conditions. It incorporates state-of-the-art technology as well as a high-tech energy and water conservation system. It has also been created with future growth and expansion in mind.
The design of the hospital, undertaken by Langdon Wilson International in association with Gulf Consult, is a unique architectural response to the site. The buildings and parking area, for example, are protected with impenetrable windbreaks. The hospital also has deeply recessed windows with sunscreens and light shelves, as well as exterior gardens, terraces and verandas.
The footprint of the hospital is derived from the Islamic geometric form of a circle evolving into a rotated square which then forms an eight sided star. The first triangle houses the lobby. To the west of the lobby is the clinic, and to the east two nursing bed towers are found, which are enclosed by gardens on the ground floor where the administrative functions are carried out and a staff entrance is located.
The exterior of the building is natural stone, precast concrete and metal. Energy efficient, low emissivity, blue-green glass has been utilized. The patient-focused design aims to provide the best healing environment while projecting confidence to the visitors that the hospital is a place where family members will receive quality care. This will hopefully ease the stress of visiting a hospital.
The clinical services are provided through the following:
• 11 wards that include intensive care, maternity, medical and surgical
• A state of the art imaging and diagnostic center
• A 30 bed emergency department
• 8 operating theaters, 2 ‘C’ section theaters and an in-vitro fertilization theater
The project also includes an underground emergency shelter that can accommodate 100 individuals, five residential buildings that will accommodate 254 hospital staff in self-contained studios, surface car parking for more than 1,200 cars and a helipad for air ambulance emergency transport.
A typical patient care unit is designed in a triangular shape, with patients’ rooms along the exterior wall. This means that all patient rooms have an external view and the length of the corridor is cut in half. The design also gives privacy to inpatient care units by segregating interdepartmental and public circulation from inpatient circulation. By keeping major circulation on the perimeter of each zone, potential has been maximized for interior flexibility and departmental growth.
The distinctive Islamic geometric make-up of the design plays an important role in the function of the hospital. Not only does it aid in the overall spatial organization, it also creates trouble-free orientation for the visitors to the facility, with an unambiguous separation between the patient rooms and the diagnostic treatment areas. State-of-the-art building systems are provided to allow full control of the environmental systems.