Mertah Project

Offering a set of services that help patients settle in and feel at ease during their long stay in hospital — among them light meals, a free area for recreation or relaxation inside the hospital, and weekend recreational activities — along with other services that fall outside the scope of the hospital's own services.

Cancer patients and patients with life-threatening illnesses staying in hospital for long periods, together with their companions — between 50 and 70 patients a week.

King Faisal Specialist Hospital & Research Centre in Jeddah.

SAR 400,000.

• Improving the patient experience during a long stay in hospital.
• Providing a suitable environment for patients during their stay.
• Improving patients' emotional wellbeing.
• Easing patients' suffering and supporting them emotionally.

• Weekend outings for patients well enough to leave the hospital, together with their families (to a shopping mall near the hospital).
• Free meals for them and free games cards for child patients.
• Launch of the “virtual visit” programme, with 4 tablet devices and data SIMs provided so that patients could stay in touch with their families — supporting the emotional wellbeing of inpatients during the period when in-person visits were suspended under COVID-19 precautions.