Spain: Army sets up field hospital to relieve Madrid COVID-19 emergency services

M/S Military vehicle arriving at Gregorio Maranon hospital, Madrid
W/S Army personnel leaving tent
SOT, Helea Saiz Bermejo, Head of Emergencies Unit at Doctors of the World (Spanish): "We will intervene on two lines, the first one in decongesting the emergencies zone by setting up a field hospital with a capacity of approximately 64 people, expandable. There will be a waiting zone for patients with mild symptoms that requite hospitalisation and would be sent to other centres at IFEMA, Colon hotel etc. Moreover, we will give support with the circuits, the circuits at the red zones, with concrete entries and exits for the health workers boosting the measures on prevention and control of the disease. Mitigating and preventing the risk of contagion between the medical staff, because the fewer health workers get infected, the less is the workload, the more ability to treat patient."
W/S Military personnel walking past logistics material
W/S Military vehicle transporting cargo
C/U Military staff managing field hospital deployment
M/S Military staff unloading cargo
M/S Military staff unloading cargo
W/S Military staff unloading cargo
M/S Military staff transporting cargo
C/U Military staff using respiratory masks
W/S Field hospital deployment
W/S Military and vehicle deployed in front of hospital
SOT, Fernando, Member of hospital Gregorio Maranon staff (Spanish): "The intensive therapy units overwhelmed, lack of material, the material arrives and ends right away because every few [units] arrive. People feel very bad, people cannot see their families, The intensive therapy units with people in critical conditions."
W/S Medical staff proceeding with disinfection
SOT, Fernando, Member of hospital Gregorio Maranon staff (Spanish): That is waiting room, there are people there, it is an intensive therapy unit, people there inside is infected. Many people are dying and it gives you feel so sorry because you see them crying, you see the death in their eyes. Please pay attention, gloves and mask, as this is not a game, it is not the usual flu, this is a very serious thing."
W/S Ambulance car arriving at hospital
SCRIPT
The Spanish army has started setting up a field hospital outside Madrid's Gregorio Maranon hospital on Monday, in response to the growing number of patients infected with the coronavirus.
A makeshift facility consisting of seven tents will be handled by the Gregorio Maranon hospital's management along with the Doctors of the World NGO.
The field hospital will dispose of a waiting room for the patients with mild symptoms as well as 64 beds for the patients who have tested positive for COVID-19, with a possibility of extension to 80 places.
The Head of Emergencies Unit at Doctors of the World Helea Saiz Bermejo stressed that the program will allow relieving the hospital's emergency service, and added that the NGO further plans to improve the health security measures for medics working in the red zones, explaining that "the fewer health workers get infected, the less is the workload, the more ability to treat patient."
Spain is the fourth country in the world in coronavirus cases, with more than 85,000 infected people. Madrid remains the worst-hit region with more than 24,000 cases followed by Catalonia (more than 16,000), Basque Country (more than 6,000) and Castilla-La Mancha (more than 5,800 cases).