King Fahad Medical City wins Saudi’s Hospital of the Year at Healthcare Asia Awards

It was awarded the Healthcare Asia Awards for three of its recent innovations in healthcare.

Known as one of the largest and fastest-growing medical complexes in the Middle East, King Fahad Medical City (KFMC) consists of four specialised hospitals, three specialised Centres of Excellence, and one national institute.

It covers an area of 500,000 square meters, has a total capacity of 1,200 beds, and is a component of the Riyadh Second Health Cluster. Recently, it was recognised for three of its recent innovations.

One of these innovations is King Fahad Medical City’s Therapeutic Ultrasound Apparatus and Method, an invention for removing tumours from diseased tissues by ultrasound without resorting to surgery. The invention was granted patents in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Europe.

Along with this, the hospital conducted a reduction of large bowel intussusception in children with a zero-cost air enema procedure. This air enema procedure is faster and offers a higher success rate for reduction and a lower perforation rate than a contrast enema. The device is rebuilt in the hospital using unused scrap in storage.

Lastly, the iKFMC App, which has been downloaded and used more than 250,000 times, offers a "smart outpatient visit" service that is based on Internet of Things (IoT) technology.

The visitor’s journey begins by registering his arrival through the application and self-service devices without the need to pass through the reception. The user is then automatically directed through application notifications to enter the medical examination and undergo the various service stations.

The application won the Achievement Award for e-Government Transaction and the HIPAA-compliant software development for patient privacy protection.

These innovations answered the challenges that KFMC identified, particularly the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Transformation Program in the healthcare sector, and keeping pace with digital transformation requirements.

For these efforts, King Fahad Medical City was given the Hospital of the Year - Saudi Arabia award in the recently concluded Healthcare Asia Awards.

The awards programme aims to honour hospitals, clinics, and other healthcare providers that have risen above the challenges, as well as made a remarkable impact on their patients, most especially amidst the massive disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The judging panel, in giving the award, took into consideration three achievements of KFMC.

In the past 12 months only, more than 8000 orthotic and prosthetic products were made in-house by the hands of KFMC experts in the field of rehabilitation technology for inpatients and outpatients including limb and spinal prosthetic and orthotic, footwear, and high-definition silicone prosthetics, which help improve the patient’s quality of life. KFMC’s Rehabilitation Technology services provide the best products that are not available in any other hospitals of the Ministry of Health.

KFMC’s other achievements also include the Therapeutic Ultrasound Apparatus and Method and its introduction of the "smart outpatient visit" service.

The hospital was also noted for its top recent advanced medical achievements, which include: using the Cryoablation technique in tumour removal, the intrauterine removal of tumours from a fetus, and having advanced cancer and radiation centre and intervention radiology.

Apart from these, KFMC has won many awards and was granted many accreditations within the past 24 months alone.