The Ostrava Municipal Hospital (MNO) has approved a study of its development. The revitalisation of the medical facility, which is expected to cost more than CZK 5.2 billion excluding VAT, is planned for the next ten years. The key construction will be the building of an acute hospital block with a heliport. The representatives of the city and the hospital told journalists today.
“The implementation of the approved study will take us a long way forward. We have already set up the MNO Development Fund to finance it in 2017. At the same time, we are seeking co-financing from third parties, i.e. the state, the Moravian-Silesian Region, a grant from the European Commission and a loan from the European Investment Bank,” said Health Councillor Michal Mariánek (Ostravak).
In the next three years, the project should be prepared, followed by the modernisation itself, which will take at least seven years. The new hospital block, consisting of pavilions U1 and U2, should include emergency reception, operating theatres, diagnostics and intensive care. After the modifications, the current H pavilions will house the Mother and Child Centre, the Geriatrics Department and LDN beds. The modernised pavilions of the E building will house the surgical wards and the internal medicine department. Specialized outpatient facilities will also have new facilities.
“Logistically, it will be much more efficient for patients and doctors. I dare say that the quality of care will also improve,” said Petr Uhlig, the hospital’s director. The modernisation of the hospital should not only help to reduce operating costs, but will also enable the strengthening of beds for long-term nursing care, which are needed in view of the ageing population. On the other hand, the number of acute beds will be partially reduced. “The aim of the action is to centralise the medical operations into a functional unit, which we have been calling for in the hospital for many years. The modernisation will take place under full operation, otherwise it cannot be done,” Uhlig added.
The new Building U will be a seven-storey block with an internal atrium, and the roof of the pavilion will house the air ambulance heliport. On the ground floor there will be facilities for the Urgent Reception together with a central reception, imaging and diagnostics department. The second floor is intended for outpatient facilities, the third for day surgery, central sterilization, blood and biochemical laboratory. The fourth floor will house the Central Operating Rooms, where 11 of them will be created, including a planned robotic room, a catheterization department with three angiolines and facilities, and the fifth floor will house the central intensive care units for surgical specialties, including the ARO unit. The sixth and seventh floors will be allocated for four inpatient stations with a total capacity of 100 beds per floor.
The first part of the U building could be completed within five years, with the others to follow in the next five years. “Today we have 21 anaesthesia departments, the operation is fragmented into many buildings. If we manage to concentrate the work in the new project into, for example, 13 or 15 workplaces, we will save a lot of staff, equipment and money and improve competitiveness,” said Tomáš Málek, head of the ARO department.
The tender for the construction manager should be announced in February, the contract should be signed in September at the latest and the preparation of the contract for the selection of the designer should begin. In the first half of 2025, a contract for the project documentation of all stages will be announced. The city expects to have to raise around CZK 2.5 billion from external sources. Approximately half a billion crowns are currently available in the city fund. Efforts to conceptually develop the hospital, which has almost 2,000 employees, have been ongoing for several years, with several projects in the past that have failed, for example, due to inconsistent political support for the project. Mariánek is confident that the current revitalisation plan will come to fruition.
Source: CTK
