Work on building the Temporary Hospital at the AMBEREXPO Exhibition and Congress Centre at ulica Żaglowa 11 in Gdańsk has been completed. After trials and tests, the facility will be handed over to COPERNICUS Podmiot Leczniczy Sp. z o.o. to provide medical services. The hospital's opening is scheduled for Wednesday, 19 January.
On 14 December 2021, the Ministry of Health, at the request of the Pomeranian Voivode dated 22 November 2021, decided on the immediate establishment of a Temporary Hospital in Gdańsk. The Minister of Health designated Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie S.A. as the contractor for this task. This meant that, six months after demobilisation, restoration works were needed at AMBEREXPO, involving the adaptation of exhibition and conference spaces to serve as crisis infrastructure – a Temporary Hospital meeting sanitary and hygiene requirements in line with applicable regulations.
Despite its name, the "temporary" facility in Gdańsk was designed in a way that permanently changed its character, while still allowing for straightforward dismantling and subsequent storage of all its components. Thanks to this approach, only a small percentage of the infrastructure was destroyed during demobilisation, and the technologies used during last year's works allowed for the facility's rapid remobilisation.
Work began immediately; Międzynarodowe Targi Gdańskie had one month to complete it. A third of the time allocated for the project fell on public holidays (Christmas, the turn of the year, Epiphany). The MTG team, supported by 10 subcontracting firms, worked without a single day off. The hospital's reopening was the result of cooperation between MTG, COPERNICUS Podmiot Leczniczy and the Pomeranian Voivode. The project team was also able to count on the support of the services of the Marshal of the Pomorskie Voivodeship and the Mayor of Gdańsk.
COPERNICUS Podmiot Leczniczy Sp. z o.o. is planning to open the temporary hospital at AMBEREXPO on Wednesday, 19 January 2022.
Schedule of works:
14.12 – Minister of Health's decision to establish the Temporary Hospital,
17.12 – work begins,
20.12 – first deliveries of infrastructure from the warehouses of the Government Agency for Strategic Reserves,
22.12 – work begins on ventilation and heating systems, installation of heat radiators,
23.12 – installation of sanitary containers begins,
3.01 – work begins on electrical, medical gas and IT installations,
5.01 – installation of the oxygen tank and evaporator, setting up hospital wards, first bed deliveries,
10.01 – completion of work on ventilation installations,
14.01 – work completed,
17.01 – hospital handed over to the Pomeranian Voivode and COPERNICUS Podmiot Leczniczy.
The hospital in numbers:
- 31 days of construction work,
- 18,500 person-hours worked on building the hospital, not including the work of the cleaning service and supervision,
- 11 – the number of days off falling within the period from the issuing of the decision to the completion of construction,
- 170 – the maximum number of people working on a single shift,
- 40,000 litres – the capacity of the oxygen tanks,
- 51,222 m2 of floor space, including logistics infrastructure, occupied by the hospital,
- more than 100 kilometres of telecommunications cabling,
- 2 km of medical gas pipes,
- 180 cameras monitoring the hospital wards and patients' condition,
- 100 computers, 60 in the infectious disease zone for staff use,
- 300 beds (20 in the Intensive Care Unit).
35 IT subnets have been launched, with over 2,500 LAN access points. Each ward of the temporary hospital will process 135 GB of medical data per month, equivalent to 135 hours of watching films online in Full HD quality. There are 5 such wards in the hospital.
The Temporary Hospital in Gdańsk first began medical operations on 8 March 2021. It ceased operations at the end of June, having admitted 808 patients during that time (including 90 patients who stayed in the Intensive Care Unit). The average length of a patient's stay was 11 days.