The National Bank of Bahrain (NBB) has extended its support to the new King Hamad American Mission Hospital (AMH) to finance the construction of the hospital which includes installation of solar panels. Set to open in 2022, the hospital will be the first eco-friendly hospitals in the Kingdom covering up to 50% of its electricity requirements from photovoltaic energy.

This latest initiative is in line with NBB’s commitment to support local commercial entities and small to medium enterprises alongside financing many sectors within the Kingdom, particularly the healthcare sector. The Bank also seeks to promote the use of renewable energy sources in Bahrain by providing the necessary financing to major projects, as solar panels become more widespread across various hospitals and healthcare centres globally.

The King Hamad American Mission Hospital, located in A’Ali, is made up of 57,000 sq/m. It will include a maternity and children’s block, a multi-specialty block with an Intensive Care Unit, a diagnostics centre, a fertility centre, a 300-seat auditorium and a special needs children’s development, assessment and treatment centre.

The hospital will be the first private hospital in the Kingdom to have a renewable energy source. The solar panels will be fully equipped with a net metering system and will be used to meet significant portion of AMH’s power requirements.

Commenting on the project, Arif Janahi, Head of Commercial and SMEs at NBB, said: “We are pleased to provide the financing for construction of the upcoming state-of-the-art King Hamad American Mission Hospital which includes eco-friendly financing to install solar panels. At NBB, we remain steadfast in our support of strategic sectors within the Kingdom and are committed to working hand-in-hand with the healthcare sector to bring sustainable projects of this scale and magnitude to life.”

Furthermore, Zied Jalali, Head of Structured Finance and Transaction Banking at NBB, stated: “This project is at the heart of NBB’s drive to promote sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) centric financing resulting in creating an impact within our community and its various sectors. Our sustainability initiatives align with the Kingdom’s efforts to boost ESG values listed in the Bahrain Economic Vision 2030. The King Hamad AMH project is at the highest levels of sustainability as it touches three key ESG pillars, namely, healthcare, education, through the imbedded education and training center, and renewable energy, through the solar sub-project. We are delighted that NBB is part of this ambitious project.”

On his end, Dr. George Cheriyan, Corporate Chief Executive Officer of American Mission Hospital, said: “With NBB’s support, we are looking to install around 3,000 solar panels on the hospital’s roof to generate a sufficient amount of power that aims to reduce our electrical bills by up to 50%. As the first eco-friendly private hospital, we hope that this will become the norm amongst other healthcare facilities and hospitals across the Kingdom.”