Most of the five hundred beds have been delivered to the backup hospital in Letňany, Prague. Intensive care units, laboratories, a computed tomography or X-ray machine and other facilities are also on site. The hospital will be completed and fully functional on Sunday, Colonel Ladislav Šlechta, director of the Military Medical Agency, confirmed at a press conference today.

Picture: Fully equipped beds from the State Material Reserves warehouse | army.cz

The hospital in Letňany is a backup facility that will be activated when the capacities in traditional hospitals runs out. According to the Minister of Health Roman Prymula, it does not need to be used. All military units are participating in the construction of the field hospital in the PVA EXPO Letňany complex.

Picture: Prepared beds in the area of the backup hospital | army.cz

"At the moment, we have about two-thirds of the construction done and we have about ninety percent of the material here. The basic infrastructure and heavy infrastructure, i.e. tents and basic departments, are already in place and built. This means intensive care units, laboratories, computed tomography, X-rays and other equipment. At the moment, we are bringing in material and supplies from the warehouse of the State Material Reserves. By Friday, we will have all the material we need for our work here," said Colonel Ladislav Šlechta. According to him, the hospital will be completed and fully functional on Sunday.

Picture: Brigadier General Zoltán Bubeník, Director of the Military Medical Agency, introduced the purpose of the hospital | army.cz

Backup for Bulovka

The facility in Letňany will become another workplace of the Hospital in Bulovka. "Given the exponential growth of the number of the infected, there is no doubt that a backup workplace is needed. We also have to reckon with the fact that our current capacity will be exhausted," said the director of the hospital, Jan Kvaček. If this happens, according to him, the backup hospital in Letňany will host the patients who have already undergone treatment in a regular hospital and whose condition will not be serious, but who will still be positive for COVID and require medical care.

Picture: There is also computed tomography in Letňany | army.cz

From the organization point of view, the Letňany Hospital falls under the Bulovka Hospital as an after-care department. It is staffed by the army, mostly members of the 6th and 7th Army Field Hospitals and other military medics.

Picture: The facility also includes military pharmacies | army.cz

In numbers

• 60 soldiers are in charge of the construction (30 from the Military Medical Agency, 30 soldiers from the Prague Garrison Command and the Czech Army Central Band, as well as the Military Police, which guards the premises in cooperation with the area security).
• 200 members of military medical personnel in case of activation of the hospital. If necessary, they will be supplemented by civilian medical staff.
• 248 soldiers for the needs of the hospital (after-care with three-shift operation): 25 doctors, 143 other medical staff, 80 medical orderlies.