Overhauling Al Bashir Hospital
In the early days of his reign, King Abdullah II undertook undercover visits to various institutions serving citizens.
Among these visits, His Majesty stopped at Al Bashir Hospital, situated in the eastern part of the capital, Amman. Since 1999, it has been one of the most frequently visited public service facilities by the King to gain first-hand insight into the challenges faced by patients.
Since the initial visit, the King has overseen efforts on two fronts: short-term rehabilitation and expansion of the emergency and ambulance department, and medium-term modernisation of the hospital into an integrated medical complex. The Ministry of Health executed these Royal directives in three stages, with a budget of JD74 million.
The modernisation of the emergency and ambulance department began in 2002 and concluded in 2004. During this period, the King made four surprise visits and two incognito visits to the hospital. Today, the Ambulance and Emergency Hospital has transformed into a comprehensive facility specialising in ambulance services and emergency care, spread over 21,000 square metres. It boasts state-of-the-art equipment and infrastructure, with 147 beds, operating theatres and intensive care units, alongside various medical departments.
Modernisation efforts also included the construction of the Internal Medicine and General Surgery Hospital, featuring a 48,000-square metre eight-storey structure, with a 400-bed capacity. This medical complex now houses the Ambulance and Emergency Hospital, Al Bashir Hospital for Specialised Surgery, the Gynaecology, Obstetrics, and Children's Hospital, the Samih Darwazah Oncology Centre, and specialised medical laboratories, and treatment centres.
Al Bashir Hospital has met the national standards for patient quality and safety set by the Health Care Accreditation Council. Since 2016, it has implemented a comprehensive programme to digitise patient records.
By 2023, Al Bashir Hospital was projected to accommodate over 12,000 patients daily, issue more than 9,000 treatment prescriptions and conduct over 100 scheduled surgeries. The hospital employs a medical team of 3,300, including 1,000 doctors, and has 1,152 beds.