Casablanca is Morocco’s hardest-hit city with nearly 1,000 novel coronavirus cases.
Rabat – Casablanca’s temporary field hospital became ready to receive and treat COVID-19 patients on Monday, April 20, only two weeks after the launch of its construction.
L’hôpital de campagne provisoire, d’une capacité de 720 lits, prend forme en quelques jours seulement.
Construit par les autorités locales de Casablanca sur le site de l’OFEC, l’hôpital est arrivé au stade des dernières retouches avant de commencer à accueillir les malades atteints du Covid-19.Les travaux de plomberie, électricité, éclairage, aération, installation de caméras et écrans, douches et mobilers… sont réalisés entièrement par des entreprises marocaines 🇲🇦.
#casablanca #wecasablanca #staysafePosted by wecasablanca on Wednesday, 22 April 2020
The hospital, located at a 16,000 square meter site at the International Fair of Casablanca and with a capacity of over 700 beds, is the largest of its kind in Morocco and in Africa.
The beds are separated into four different blocks. Each block contains separate air filtering and air conditioning systems, as well as several restrooms and showers.
Hundreds of cameras are installed in the hospital, ensuring the surveillance of all facilities and beds.
The hospital also includes a rest area for medical staff, with 20 rooms for permanent doctors and several restrooms.
The medical facility hosts six intensive care units for patients in critical condition and four offices, along with several examination rooms.
Authorities launched the hospital’s construction on April 6. The project cost approximately MAD 45 million ($450,000).
Local authorities in the Casablanca-Settat region collaborated with the regional health directorate to facilitate the initiative.
As of April 22, Casablanca-Settat hosts the most cases of any Moroccan region, with 903 infections.
The field hospital is not the first of its kind. On April 2, Morocco’s Royal Armed Forces (FAR) completed the construction of the first military field hospital in Benslimane, near Casablanca.
The hospital, built in a record duration of only six days, has a capacity of over 460 beds, along with 20 intensive care units for COVID-19 patients in critical condition.
The facility employs 13 doctors, including two emergency doctors, three intensive care doctors, six general practitioners, one pharmacist, and one clinical biologist.
Sixty-nine nurses comprise the paramedical staff. Two senior military health officials lead the 39 assisting staff members.
The FAR have also announced their readiness to build more field hospitals across the country if needed.
Field hospitals aim to alleviate the pressure on other health facilities, especially in cities and regions with large numbers of confirmed COVID-19 patients.
Morocco has confirmed 3,377 COVID-19 cases, including 398 recoveries and 149 deaths, as of 10 a.m. on April 22.
