After 674 days and 2.4 million doses of the anti-Covid vaccine administered, Italy’s largest vaccination hub closes, the one set up inside the Palazzo delle Scintille in Milan, in what used to be the spaces of the old city fair ( next to it is still the headquarters of the Fiera Milano Foundation) and which today are owned by Generali Real Estate, like the whole surrounding area, on which the CityLife urban project is being developed. Precisely in this context, said Roberto Russo, Generali’s director of public-residential works, the Palazzo delle Scintille will find its place, which will become a structure open to the city, destined to host cultural events and sporting activities.
The official closing was the occasion to present the book «Dodici respiri», by Saschia Masini, which tells how it was possible to create in just ten days, inside two exhibition pavilions made available by the Fondazione Fiera Milano, a real hospital with 157 intensive care beds, directed by Nino Stocchetti, director of Neuroresuscitation at the Milan Polyclinic and author of one of the book’s afterwords. Ezio Belleri, General Manager of the Polyclinic and author of a second afterword, and the authors of the prefaces also attended the ceremony: Guido Bertolaso, Councilor for Welfare of the Lombardy Region, and Enrico Pazzali, president of the Fiera Milano Foundation .
Also present was the president of the Lombardy Region, Attilio Fontana: «Palazzo delle Scintile and Ospedale in Fiera represent the soul of the Lombards, their ability to react and to face any test. Over 800 people have worked in the hospital as volunteers, committing all their strength day and night, 24 hours a day, allowing for a reduction in the time required for completion».
«Covid is not over, but fortunately the situation is now under control – said Guido Bertolaso -. This is why we thought it appropriate to close this structure which was certainly one of the most important symbols of this war, which today we can say we have won”. Enrico Pazzali gave the numbers of this structure: «Together with hundreds of people and thousands of benefactors, a real intensive care unit was created in the pavilions of the Fair, at the Portello – he explained -. A structure of 25 thousand square meters of surface, with 157 beds that have welcomed over 530 patients, the majority of whom are in serious conditions».
«It was a unique professional experience for all of us – said Ezio Belleri -. A real revolution in the management of the healthcare organization: dozens of collaborators worked behind a single bed, behind each single patient. We had 157 beds at the Fair and in the meantime we continued to manage the 900 beds at the Policlinico. Before Covid-19, 17 intensive care beds were enough for a large hospital like ours;
instead, during the two waves we arrived at the same time as hospitalizing 110 patients in intensive care and another 220 in sub-intensive care: a third of the entire hospital was occupied by people in very serious conditions ».