SAUDI ARABIA — Dr. Majid Al-Fayyadh, CEO of King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC), has shared a remarkable achievement in cancer care in Saudi Arabia.
He stated that cancer, once considered a “death sentence,” no longer holds the same connotation as before. The cancer survival rate has now reached 50%, and in some cases, it is as high as 97%.
He added that 50% of the patients treated at KFSH&RC are completely cured, and the recovery rate is 90% for leukemia and early-stage breast cancer.
Dr. Al-Fayyadh’s remarks were made during the “Al-Liwan” program on Rotana Khalijia channel.
According to him, there are approximately 20,000 cancer cases reported annually in the Kingdom, of which 16,000 are Saudis and 4,000 are non-Saudis.
KFSH&RC has treated 25% of the total patients diagnosed with cancer in the Kingdom during the last year. Dr. Al-Fayyadh aims to double this percentage in the coming years.
Dr. Al-Fayyadh’s contributions to cancer care in Saudi Arabia are significant. He was the first to start creating a registry for cancer patients, which eventually turned into an integrated national registry.
He has also been appointed to the Saudi Health Council, which oversees healthcare initiatives in the country.
Dr. Al-Fayyadh also shared the story of KFSH&RC’s establishment, noting that King Faisal wanted to put an end to the suffering of people who had to travel abroad to receive treatment.
Today, KFSH&RC provides a wide range of medical services, but has become particularly renowned for its expertise in five major specialties: cancer, organ transplant, heart, nerves, and genetic diseases.
Furthermore, KFSH&RC has established a stem cell bank, and last year it performed 1016 transplants for all organs, of which 830 were in Riyadh.
In comparison, the largest stem cell center in the United States performed only 770 transplants.
The hospital is also a leading medical center in the world in performing preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) operations, conducting 600 operations per year, or more than 50% of what is carried out in the European continent as a whole.
Dr. Al-Fayyadh noted the great transformation taking place in the Saudi health sector, emphasizing that the state will continue to take care of the bills of complicated medical cases through the National Health Insurance Program, with the participation of insurance companies.
He also highlighted the hospital’s success in providing distinguished and high-quality healthcare, which has prompted an increase in capacity. In three years, the hospital’s annual intake of new patients rose from 22,000 to 38,000.
It is worth noting that The King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Center (KFSH&RC) is a world-renowned hospital that provides exceptional specialized healthcare in the Middle East.
As a leading tertiary and quaternary healthcare provider, KFSH&RC has gained global recognition for its high-quality clinical services and accredited hospital standards.
According to Brand Finance, the world’s leading brand valuation consultancy, KFSH&RC was recently ranked 20th in the list of the best healthcare institutions in the world and the first in the Middle East and Africa for the year 2023.
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