MADRID – What is the plan for the purpose-built corona hospital in Madrid? More than 300 days after the opening of the Isabel Zendal, the hospital has had various functions such as patient care and a vaccination centre. The Spanish hospital is now working towards the next phase.
It took just a few weeks, to build the hospital in the autumn of 2020. As such, it was supposed to relieve the pressure on the existing hospitals in Spain. Nursing wards and operating rooms were converted into vaccination centres when the number of infections decreased. With the arrival of the fifth wave in Spain, everything was rebuilt very quickly to treat as many people as possible.
Madrid hospital developments during pandemic
The hospital has now been open for more than three-quarters of a year. And furthermore, is known as the only hospital in Europe that specialises in Covid-19. However, not only medical care is provided in the hospital. Thanks to the support of schools, a library was opened. And, after a donation from a department store chain, a real games room was set up to make the stay more bearable for younger patients.
Isabel Zendal hospital important research centre in Europe
Now that the virus is increasingly under control, the hospital has acquired an important function. Moreover, dozens of studies into the SARS-CoV-2 virus are being conducted in this hospital. The Spanish newspaper La Razón writes the Isabel Zendal is deemed the most reliable research centre for viruses in Europe. Just 300 days after the hospital opened, doctors and researchers at Isabel Zendal are involved in more than 25 studies and clinical trials.
The director of Isabel Zendal says: “Because this hospital has treated more than 8,000 patients against Covid-19 and 1.6 million people have been vaccinated, we have a wealth of information to conduct research into this type of virus. By treating so many patients, we can draw inferences at an epidemiological level. And also from disease influences by gender, race, symptomatology and response to treatment. Because care is delivered to patients who have all been treated under the same conditions.”
Transition from hospital to post-operative care centre
The hospital will not only face the future as a research centre, one of the hospital’s new missions in Madrid is to provide support to people who have been cured of the virus.
In the coming months, the hospital will start preparing to provide mental and physical rehabilitation for ex-patients. This includes the provision of psychological support and sports programmes. If the pandemic remains under control, this will be offered at Isabel Zendal hospital from 2022.
