A $70 million hospital
to open in Nabatieh

AUBMC to manage medical staff

MEDRAR Foundation, a charity, will open MEDRAR Medical Center (MMC) in Choukine, Nabatieh by early 2017.

The cost of investment in the new hospital will reach $70 million. The 38,000 square meter hospital will host 200 beds. MMC will be eco-friendly, LEED-Gold certified and powered by various renewable energy resources.

The hospital will comprise six centers of excellence: Cancer, heart and vascular, orthopedic, otology, a home for the elderly, addiction and psychotherapy. It will also include surgery, intensive care rooms, as well as outpatient clinics. The hospital will be applying the Joint Commission International (JCI) standards for hospitals.

The MEDRAR Foundation signed a long-term Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) to run it as a teaching hospital. According to Dr. Ali Hajj, Founding Member of the Governing Board at MEDRAR Medical Center, AUBMC will be responsible of training and preparing the whole medical staff, including physicians and nurses. It will be involved in medical administration. It will be a university hospital for teaching and training the physicians.

MMC will create more than 800 job opportunities including physician posts. “MMC will create a good economic cycle in this region and will serve all classes,” Hajj said.

Patients will receive the same quality of medical services that AUBMC patients do, according to Hajj.

The hospital will be financed through charities. Hajj said that till now the foundation has collected a large part of the budget required for building the hospital.

MMC will sign contracts with the Ministry of Public Health, the National Social Security Fund and insurance companies to cover part of the expenses.