Aspetar, which witnessed the opening of its West Expansion yesterday, will continue to expand by adding more facilities and focusing on research activities.
“We are planning to add more operating theatres. They will be placed on the third floor of the new centre. This will be completed in six months to one year to enable us to cope with the demand for performing more surgeries,” Ibrahim Aldarwish, chief operating officer, Aspetar, told Gulf Times.
One of the major services offered is the sports surgery training centre, a first in the Middle East. Located at the basement level, the centre aims to provide training for surgical training and education. It is also a leading sports surgical training and education centre for surgeons available locally, regionally and globally with a specified real time surgical training programme.
Another notable facility is the male and female rehabilitation centre located at the ground and first floors of the new expansion. The female rehabilitation centre has a current capacity of 50 patients per day, with plans to increase to 70 per day by the end of 2016.
The first floor includes the male rehabilitation centre, with a capacity of 75 patients per day, which will be increased to 140 by the end of 2016. By the end of 2017, the centre’s full capacity will be increased to 300 patients a day.
Both the centres contain a broad range of exercise equipment for recovery assistance from a variety of musculoskeletal and sports-related injuries suffered by athletes and active people.
The centre also includes Exercise is Medicine (EIM) clinics, located on the second floor of the expansion. These are also the first of their kind in the region and have been accredited by the American College of Sports Medicine and the American Medical Association. The EIM clinics aim to encourage members of the community to use exercise as a tool for the treatment and prevention of many chronic diseases, such as blood pressure and diabetes, among others.