Abu Dhabi's oldest hospital on its last legs

The Central Hospital is part of the Shaikh Khalifa Medical Centre and was the only hospital in Abu Dhabi till Al Jazeera Hospital was set up by the mid-70s.

Abu Dhabi's oldest hospital on its last legs
By Dina El Shammaa, Staff Reporter GULF NEWS Published: January 28, 2008, 00:11

Abu Dhabi: Central Hospital, the oldest hospital in Abu Dhabi, is slated to be demolished by the end of next week.

The 40-year-old hospital located near Shaikh Khalifa Medical Centre (SKMC), was the only hospital in Abu Dhabi till Al Jazeera Hospital was set up by the mid-70s, said the management of SKMC.

Two crucial sections at Central Hospital - the Urgent Care section and the Renal Unit Dialysis (RUD) - are being transferred.

The Urgent Care section is scheduled to be transferred to the new Khalidiya Urgent Care Centre (KUCC) at SKMC, which will service patients the same day the Central Hospital is closed.

The urgent case section is meant to relieve the ER section at SKMC which receives a large number of patients suffering from accidents, heart attack, renal-related cases and others. The ER section has 28 beds in the surgical ward with 10 beds at the Children's Accident Section. Seven new beds are to be added, to increase the current bed capacity to 45 for adults and children.

During the first ten months of last year, the ER ward treated 72,091 patients, including 24,368 children.

The KUCC will have 20 doctors specialised in emergency related cases, 43 nurses and 59 technicians, with a total of 19 rooms.

The second department to be transferred, the Renal Unit Dialysis (RUD), will be re-located in the medical pavilion, formally known as Al Jazeera Hospital.

The RUD will continue treating non-Emiratis. The section will have 17 new dialysis machines. Five more machines are to be added soon.

Healthcare: SKMC employs 4,600

* Shaikh Khalifa Medical Centre (SKMC) consists of a 550-bed Acute Care Hospital, a 120-bed Behaviour Sciences Pavilion, an 88-bed Abu Dhabi Rehabilitation Centre, 10 primary healthcare centres, and more than 12 specialised outpatient clinics. SKMC employs about 4,600 caregivers and administrators from 62 nationalities.
* The various sections at the SKMC are Shaikh Khalifa Surgical Pavilion; Shaikh Khalifa Medical Pavilion; Outpatient Specialty Clinics; Primary healthcare (PHC) facilities; Abu Dhabi Rehabilitation Centre; Abu Dhabi Blood Bank and Diabetes Centre.


Urgent Care patients include less life-threatening cases that need not be admitted to the Emergency Room ward (ER).