,In the Name of God the most Merciful
We thank God repeatedly for what he has blessed us with during this past year. Through his generous grace has come the prudent leadership and wisdom that has supported all our staff to successfully respond to the needs of our patients, and their families. We praise God’s almighty bounty that nourishes us in this kind country; and we repeat our gratitude for his blessing all of us with the ability to come together in the unity of our country guided by Islamic Sharea. Finally, we are grateful and thankful for having achieved all our accomplishments in the past year.
The hospital’s many accomplishments are reflected across our entire organization and within many programs and services.  I am pleased to take the opportunity in to present the highlights of what can only be described as a very successful year. First and foremost, in recognition and support of Ministry of Health’s “patient first” initiative in 2012, our hospital has been internationally recognized and accredited for our quality processes in the following departments: Information Technology Services - ISO Certification for information security systems; Academic Affairs - accredited by the American Academy of Continuing Medical Education; and the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine – accredited by the American Society of Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics. KFSHD is only the second hospital in the Middle East to receive this important accreditation, which is critical for the operation of our Oncology and Multi-Organ Transplant Centre.
This year has seen the successful completion of multiple facility projects to allow us to introduce new and expanded clinical programs and services. Some of these projects include:  a new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit; Department of Advanced Spine Surgery; Sleep Laboratory to support the Sleep Disorder Program; Adult Intensive Care Unit (expanded for 8 to 16 beds); Paediatric Intensive Care Unit (expanded from 4 to 9 beds); Ward Renovation Project (34 additional beds); the introduction of six Digital Operating Room theatres; the opening of additional Outpatient Clinics; expansion of the Medical Imaging Department;  and the commissioning of  the new Cyclotron Unit .
As in previous years, KFSHD continues to experience steady growth in our patient and workload volumes.  The hospital witnessed a 13% increase in the number of outpatient clinic visits. The number of surgical procedures increased by 11% over the previous year; and, admissions increased by 8% compared to 2011.
The Multi-Organ Transplant Center (MOTC) performed 350 procedures up to the end of  2012, having also achieved two important accomplishments this year: the first being the establishment of the Transplant Program for high-Risk patients; and, the second was the successful establishment of an Agreement between KFSHD and the KFSH Riyadh to start a Live Kidney Exchange Program. In 2012, the Oncology Centre increased bone marrow transplantation to reach 50 transplants; and, the number of tumor removal operative procedures reached 1,082.

In the coming 2013 New Year, KFSHD will aggressively move forward to complete its current agenda to provide quality patient care, and respond to the needs and expectations of the patient community that we serve. Of particular note are the following projects and programs:
• Increasing our Operating Room capacity through improved efficiencies and renovated facilities;
• Expanded capacity in our Adult and Paediatric critical care units, and the commissioning of Cardiac and High Dependency programs;
• Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine – expansion;
• Pharmacy Department - expanding satellite pharmacies in both the Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Medicine buildings;
• Emergency Department – expansion;
• Enhanced patient homecare support; and,
• Starting our core laboratories in the newly established Research Centre.
The accomplishments and success of the Hospital management have been sustained by the directives and support of His Excellency Dr. Abdullah Al Rhabeah, Minister of Health, His Excellency, the Vice Minister for Health Affairs, and the Governing Board. The “patient first” program created by the Ministry of Health has been a valuable source of inspiration to all of us as we continuously improve the quality of care to all our patients and their  families. In the ongoing support of the Minister of Health’s National Health Program, KFSHD reaffirms the critical importance of strengthening the network of cooperation and communication within all areas of the healthcare sector and again commits its goals and objectives in this regard. KFSHD will continue to expand and enhance its international collaboration initiatives with universities and medical institutions in order to bring the latest and most innovative patient care and technologies to the Eastern Region and the Kingdom.
In closing, I am most pleased to report that our new Medical City’s Project Management Office (KKMC), along with the input of the KFSHD staff and our international consultant partners, has made excellent progress in the processing and finalization of the new facility design work. The support of His Excellency the Minister of Health and His Excellency, the Vice Minister for Health Affairs has been instrumental in our success to date. Our goal will be to lay the foundation stone for the King Khalid Medical City in the second quarter of this year that will see the launching of the construction of an international award-winning hospital design.
I ask God to bless the work and commitment of all our staff with success and prosperity; and to instill in each of us the pride and dignity of our dear home country that will enable us to achieve the excellence in our work to which we all aspire.