March 26, 2020: King Felipe visited the visited the IFEMA Emergency field hospital where more than one thousand doctors, nurses, and assistants will work to care for patients with COVID-19
He was accompanied by the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa; Defense Minister Margarita Robles; the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez Almeida; the Minister of Health of the Community of Madrid, Enrique Ruiz Escudero and the CEO of IFEMA, Eduardo López-Puertas, among other authorities and representatives of the Military Emergency Unit.
Subsequently, the King attended an informative meeting in which explanations of the installation and commissioning of the emergency hospital project were given, with the intervention of the president of the IFEMA executive committee, the medical director, the logistics director and the general director of IFEMA. Also, explanations were given about the welcoming initiative for 150 homeless people in Hall 14 of IFEMA, and the future expansion of the number of beds.
This IFEMA Emergency Hospital has been launched after the President of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, and the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, agreed on new measures in light of the evolution of the coronavirus pandemic. The Hospital will grow, also using Pavilion 7 until it reaches its maximum capacity, 5,000 beds and 500 ICUs. This will make it a Hospital that quadruples the capacity of, until now, Madrid’s largest Hospital: La Paz University Hospital.
In both pavilions - one will be called La Paz and another Puerta de Hierro, referring to two of the public hospitals in the Madrid healthcare network - the modules are spaced and a three-meter separation between beds has been established. In these pavilions there is space for medical work. The restrooms will have an infirmary area, other rooms to carry out medical records, waste containers and spaces to rest. There will also be a bathroom area and portable showers. The UME has helped in the installation of it.
The laboratory to serve this center will be the one centralized at the University Hospital of La Paz and the food service will be attended by the company responsible for catering at IFEMA, both for patients and healthcare personnel. The company has experience in hospital work. The entire infrastructure assembly is being carried out by IFEMA personnel while the facilities and health personnel depend on the Health Department of the Community of Madrid.