Designs for a multi-million-dinar medical city in Bahrain’s Southern Governorate are due to be completed in December.

Work on the King Abdullah Medical City project will begin as soon as the designs are completed. The project, paid for through a $1-billion Saudi grant from the late King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, will be built on a one-million-sq-m plot of land donated by His Majesty King Hamad.

It will be run by the Arabian Gulf University (AGU) and designed by SaudConsult  following an agreement signed in December.

The development will include 264 beds, four centres of excellence and research, a college of medicine and student dorms.

“The city, like King Hamad University Hospital, is part of a public hospitals system that the government aims to establish in co-operation with healthcare institutions such as Supreme Council of Health and National Health Regulatory Authority,” said AGU president Dr Khalid bin Abdulrahman Al Ohali.