Felipe VI has visited the Hospital Ifema de Emergencia, where several pavilions of this fairground have been set up as a field hospital to attend to those infected by the coronavirus and try to alleviate the saturation presented by Madrid hospitals. Specifically, in Ifema, where this field hospital has been raised against the clock with the help of the Military Emergency Unit (UME), 1,396 beds have been enabled, which will be 1,300 conventional and 96 ICU posts.

"Thank you for this hospital. I have been following you through the media and the truth is that it is extraordinary," were the King's words to the authorities after getting out of his vehicle. In his tour of the facilities, the Monarch has been informed of the details of the construction, the logistics, what is still to be finished and the needs of an infrastructure of these characteristics. The visit lasted just over an hour and included a briefing in one of the rooms of the complex, where masks have already been dispensed with, but not gloves.

The visit has taken place discreetly, since it has not been previously reported -the media have been informed when the King was already entering Ifema- as a precautionary measure in the face of the special situation that Spain is going through, and especially the Community from Madrid. Felipe VI has visited the facilities, but not the spaces where patients are already hospitalized, both for security measures and out of respect for them.

The King has been accompanied by the Minister of Health, Salvador Illa - who has rushed to appear in Congress - and the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, as well as the Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, the Minister of Health of the Community of Madrid, Enrique Ruiz Escudero, the general director of Ifema, Eduardo López-Puertas, and representatives of the military units that participate in the assembly of the center. Using the mask and gloves, the King has made a tour of the facilities, except for the spaces already occupied by patients and users, and has attended an informational meeting on the start-up of the complex erected to face the epidemic of COVid-19.

This visit is part of the follow-up that Felipe VI is conducting of the coronavirus crisis, where he is maintaining contacts with different associations, social agents, businessmen and foreign leaders, Spanish authorities, military officials ... and in permanent contact with both the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, as the four ministers designated as competent authorities.

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  • Real home
  • Philip VI
  • Madrid
  • Infectious diseases
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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