500-bed Field Hospital Will Be Installed at Riocentro for Non-Coronavirus Patients

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Wednesday, Mayor Marcelo Crivella and the Municipal Secretaries of Public Order, Gutemberg Fonseca, and Infrastructure, Housing and Conservation, Sebastião Bruno, inspected the Riocentro facilities in Jacarepaguá, in the West Zone, where a City Hall field hospital will be set up with the support of the federal government and Brazil’s armed forces.

The plan is to install at least 500 beds in the installation, which will admit only patients from the municipal hospitals who need or are recovering from elective surgeries or are undergoing medical care, thereby freeing the beds of other health units for patients infected with the coronavirus.

According to the city, a crisis cabinet is in place to organize and map out all supply and logistics requirements for the campaign hospital’s operation. Federal and state bodies are also supporting the work.

“We have already requested the Federal Government to dispatch another 400 doctors through the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) Program to be ready to meet all this demand that, undoubtedly, the Municipal Health Secretariat is already preparing for,” said Gutemberg Fonseca.