More space for sick beds

Berlin, there is still enough space in the German hospitals. Anyone who gets sick from the coronavirus can get help there. But what if there are suddenly more patients than beds? Experts across Germany are thinking about this. To prepare, some cities are building new hospitals and centers where they can also treat the sick.

Something like this also arises in Berlin. A hall is being converted there, which is otherwise used for trade fairs. “The shell is already there,” says Albrecht Broemme. His job is to keep an overview of the construction and to turn the hall into a clinic. The big challenge with the project: it has to be quick. Beds for 800 patients should be available here from the end of April if possible.
The workers started at the beginning of the month.

“Doing something like this at this time is something special,” says Albrecht Broemme. For example, workers have to lay oxygen pipes. In addition, the power supply must be strengthened. But Albrecht Broemme is confident that everything will work out in the planned time.

The first 200 new hospital beds have already arrived in Berlin. The question remains, however, when the devices and machines will come with which, for example, people can be artificially ventilated.

Before the building opens, Albrecht Broemme still has a lot to talk on the phone and coordinate. It would be nicest if the hospital was ultimately not needed. “We hope that the measures taken so far will work. But we don’t know, ”he says.