The latest positive developments in GCC healthcare — mega-projects, nursing milestones, career opportunities and health system advances.
The National Guard Health Affairs has officially broken ground on the 850-bed King Salman Specialist Hospital in Riyadh's Al Yasmin district — the largest single hospital project launched in Saudi Arabia this year. The landmark facility will house centres of excellence in cardiac surgery, neuroscience, transplant and paediatric critical care, and has confirmed 2,400 nursing positions spanning all clinical bands. A dedicated nursing education institute integrated within the campus will deliver BSN-to-MSN bridging programmes, with an inaugural intake planned for early 2026. Construction is scheduled for completion in Q4 2027, supporting Vision 2030's target of 4.6 hospital beds per 1,000 citizens.
Read full story →Abu Dhabi Health Services Company (SEHA) has announced its largest-ever nursing recruitment campaign, opening 3,500 positions across its 13-hospital network. The drive targets registered nurses with ICU, emergency, perioperative and paediatric experience. SEHA is offering competitive packages including tax-free salaries starting at AED 12,000 for Band 5 nurses, fully furnished accommodation and an accelerated career progression pathway to clinical leadership within three years.
Read full story →Hamad Medical Corporation has officially opened the Lusail Smart Ambulatory Care Centre, a flagship outpatient facility built on a fully digital care model with AI-assisted triage and nurse-led chronic disease management clinics. The centre immediately activates 420 nursing roles, with a particular focus on advanced practice nurses who will independently manage hypertension, diabetes and respiratory conditions. The facility is the first in Qatar to embed remote patient monitoring directly into outpatient nursing workflows.
Read full story →The Saudi Nursing Federation has announced it has surpassed 125,000 registered members, making it the largest nursing professional association in the Arab world. To mark the milestone, the Federation unveiled a new digital CPD platform offering 200+ accredited courses in Arabic and English, and announced a partnership with the Saudi Commission for Health Specialties to streamline annual licence renewal directly through the platform — saving nurses an estimated 8 hours of administrative time per year.
Read full story →The Dubai Health Authority has confirmed planning approval for Dubai Healthcare City Phase 3, an AED 4.2 billion expansion that will add six specialist hospitals and a 360-bed rehabilitation centre to the existing health city footprint. A detailed nursing workforce plan accompanying the approval identifies 1,200 new positions across oncology, rehabilitation, mental health and medical-surgical nursing — with a preference for nurses who hold certifications in their specialty area from internationally recognised bodies.
Read full story →Kuwait's Ministry of Health has launched the country's first structured Clinical Nursing Residency Programme, offering 200 fully funded 12-month placements across eight specialty tracks including critical care, emergency, perioperative, neonatal and psychiatry nursing. Graduates will receive an automatic pay-grade advancement and a government-issued specialty certificate recognised across the GCC. The programme has been developed in collaboration with Johns Hopkins Aramco Healthcare and is open to Kuwaiti nationals and long-term expatriate nurses currently employed in MOH facilities.
Read full story →The Bahrain Bay Medical Hub project has secured USD 620 million in financing from a consortium of GCC development banks, with construction set to begin in Q3 2025. The waterfront medical destination will comprise a 400-bed tertiary hospital, a medical hotel, a rehabilitation centre and a wellness spa complex. Project planners have announced that 700 nursing positions will be available at opening in 2028, with preference given to Bahraini nationals and GCC citizens as part of the project's localisation commitment.
Read full story →Sultan Qaboos University Hospital has become the first hospital in Oman to achieve Joint Commission International Nursing Excellence Designation, recognising its outstanding nursing leadership, evidence-based practice standards and nurse-sensitive patient outcomes. The JCI review team commended the hospital's nurse-to-patient ratios, mentorship structures and its unique national nursing research programme that has produced 14 peer-reviewed publications in the past two years. The designation puts SQUH among the top 3% of hospitals globally for nursing quality.
Read full story →NEOM's Oxagon floating industrial city has confirmed its integrated Health Hub has reached 62% construction completion, with the facility's robotic-assisted nursing unit — the first of its kind in the Middle East — now fully fitted out and undergoing equipment commissioning. The hub will employ 340 nurses specialising in industrial occupational health, emergency medicine and telemedicine coordination. NEOM has partnered with King's College London to deliver a tailor-made occupational health nursing certification for the inaugural workforce cohort.
Read full story →Qatar Foundation has inaugurated the Gulf Centre for Nursing Research at Education City, backed by an QAR 80 million endowment. The centre will focus on clinical nursing innovation, patient safety research and health systems nursing, and will award 30 nursing research fellowships annually — open to nurses from all six GCC nations. Founding Director Professor Aisha Al-Thani announced a flagship five-year study on nurse-led chronic disease management across Qatar's primary care network as the centre's first major research programme.
Read full story →The Dubai Health Authority has completed the rollout of an AI-powered nurse scheduling and workforce management platform across all 13 of its direct healthcare facilities, following a six-month pilot that reduced overtime costs by 28% and improved nurse satisfaction scores by 19 percentage points. The platform, developed in partnership with a UAE-based health tech start-up, dynamically matches nurse competency profiles to ward acuity levels in real time. DHA has made the platform available for licensing by other GCC health authorities at a subsidised rate.
Read full story →The College of Applied Health Sciences in Bahrain has been named winner of the 2025 Arab Nursing Simulation Excellence Award by the Arab Board of Health Specializations, recognising its high-fidelity simulation centre as the benchmark for clinical nursing education in the region. The college's simulation programme — which includes virtual reality surgical nursing scenarios and standardised patient encounters — has improved clinical competency assessment pass rates from 71% to 94% since its introduction in 2023. The college will now host the 2026 GCC Nursing Simulation Symposium.
Read full story →The Sohar Industrial Port Company has broken ground on Phase 2 of the Sohar Health Village, a dedicated healthcare campus serving the Sohar-Duqm industrial corridor. The 280-bed Phase 2 facility will add oncology, occupational health and rehabilitation services to the existing Phase 1 offering, and will create 500 nursing posts across both phases once fully operational in 2027. The project, funded through an Oman Investment Authority infrastructure bond, represents Oman's commitment to healthcare provision as a cornerstone of its industrial city strategy.
Read full story →Kuwait's Civil Service Commission has approved an 18% salary increase for all registered nurses employed in government hospitals and health centres, effective from 1 June 2025. The uplift — the largest nursing pay increase in Kuwait in over a decade — is accompanied by a new specialist nursing allowance of KWD 180–320 per month for nurses holding postgraduate qualifications or recognised specialty certifications. The announcement is expected to significantly reduce the attrition of experienced Kuwaiti nurses to private healthcare providers.
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