JEDDAH — In a new achievement, the International Medical Center (IMC), has been included in Newsweek's yearly list of best hospitals in the world according to the fourth yearly ranking of Newsweek magazine and the Statista network for statistical studies, according to the experts who helped guide this classification in the context of assessing how hospitals in the world faced COVID-19 for two years and still going.

This classification aims to highlight the mechanisms by which these hospitals, including the International Medical Center, were able to deal exemplary and quickly adapt to the sudden set of challenges they faced, where these distinguished hospitals are referred to in order to learn from their experiences and performance in facing crises.

Challenges have exploded in the face of health sectors in all countries of the world with the beginning of the crisis, and they have suffered from a severe shortage in the number of medical teams, especially nursing teams, and intensive care beds compared to the need, and the sufficiency of respirators, personal protective equipment, and so on.

The crisis also forced the leading hospitals in the world to improvise quick solutions in order to save the situation, the most prominent of which was the International Medical Center, locally and regionally. At the same time, these hospitals had to not abandon their commitments to provide the highest levels of quality in patient care, superior hygiene and the management of self-isolation.

In addition, the leading hospitals continued to conduct important medical research while combating the virus, innovating aids, and activating virtual meetings, which helped these hospitals achieve their goals and what distinguished these hospitals is their ideal coherent infrastructure equipped with the most sophisticated technologies, especially in the emergency departments and intensive care units. These are the issues that IMC has been proactive in.

As for the selection of the working teams, it was one of the most important standards of the leading hospitals. In addition to the commitment to the exemplary performance of doctors, nursing teams, and owners of auxiliary jobs, there was a selection based on the ability of their employees to continuously innovate, and therefore talents occupy an essential position in those hospitals, which in turn is an inspiring environment for young talents, and this element is one of the main factors that maintain the excellence of these hospitals for a long period of time. And the Infection Control Department at the International Medical Center was a pioneer in the Kingdom in this regard and won the Excellence in Infection Control Award.

It is noteworthy that the selection of 29 hospitals from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this year among Newsweek's list of the world's best hospitals, which number approximately 2,200 hospitals in 27 countries, including the International Medical Center, is in recognition of the development of the health sector in the Kingdom and keeping up with major global developments and challenges.

This year's rankings represent an expanding world, with three new countries on the list being the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Colombia.

The results of excellence for the list of the 150 best hospitals in the world show the United States topping the list with 33 distinguished hospitals, followed by Germany with 14, then Italy and France with ten hospitals each, and South Korea with 8 hospitals