Kuwait has signed a contract worth an estimated KD265 million ($928 million) with a leading building contractor for the expansion of the Farwaniya Hospital.

The contract between the Health Ministry and Sayyed Hameed Behbehani will include designing, equipping and maintaining of the hospital, said the Kuwait News Agency (Kuna) report.

The hospital features all specialties, including allied medicine and school health services as well as a dentistry building with a total of 130 clinics, physiotherapy and outpatient buildings, in addition to 27 operation theatres and 233 ICU beds, Health Minister Ali Al-Obaidi was quoted as saying in the report.

The project is expected to be completed within four years, Al-Obaidi added.

The Health Ministry plans to construct eight new hospitals to raise the total bed capacity in the country to around 11,000 by 2016, the report said.

Plans include a new hospital expansion in Jahra, expansion of the Amiri and Adan hospitals and a revamp of the Al Razi and Ibn Sina hospitals as well as the construction of the new Jaber Al Ahmed Hospital, according to the report.