Faculty from the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Health Services Administration in the School of Health Professions will train the hospital administrators of the new 1,500-bed King Fahd Specialist Hospital-Dammam. The two-year, $2.2 million partnership agreement was signed at a ceremony Wednesday by UAB President Carol Garrison, School of Health Professions Dean Harold Jones, PhD, and Khalid Sabr, MD, executive director of medical and clinical affairs at King Fahd Specialist Hospital, MD News reported on its website Friday. Under the partnership, some 35 physician/administrators from King Fahd Specialist Hospital will enroll in the School of Health Profession's Masters of Science in Health Administration Executive program. Three UAB faculty will teach in Saudi Arabia at least once a semester for a week beginning in January. Robert Hernandez, Dr. P.H., director of international education in Health Services Administration, said up to 12 UAB faculty will travel to Saudi Arabia during the two-year period, but most of the instruction will be delivered online. “We are looking forward to this collaboration,” Sabr said. “We are moving from a 400-bed hospital to a 1,500-bed hospital, and one of our major challenges is human resources.” Sabr was reported as saying that the new King Fahd Specialist Hospital, which will be built and operating in 48 months, will be more of an academic center than a tertiary hospital and a strong middle management is needed. Many physicians in Saudi Arabia also are administrators, but that arrangement is not well suited for the new hospital, which will be almost four times the capacity of the existing hospital, he said.
