Saudi Arabia pledges to revamp fire-ravaged Baghdad hospital

Cairo: Saudi Arabia has said it will finance the rehabilitation of an Iraqi hospital that was hit by a deadly fire last month.

Saudi King Salman Bin Abdulaziz has ordered the kingdom’s donation for rehabilitating the Ibn Al Khatib Hospital as a gift to the Iraqi people, the Saudi news agency SPA reported.

“The kingdom announces receiving acute cases to get medical treatment at its hospitals at the cost of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques [the Saudi King],” the agency added, quoting the Saudi embassy in Baghdad. The gesture reflects “bonds of fraternity, good neighbourliness and historical relations between the two brotherly countries and people,” it added.

On April 24, the Ibn Al Khatib, where coronavirus patients were treated, was ravaged by a blaze that left at least 80 people dead, prompting the Iraqi health minister to resign.

Victims were on ventilators when oxygen cylinders exploded, sparking the fire, according to local media.