The new children’s hospital is no longer a mirage

The Del Ponte Hospital is almost ready. The Italian flag can be seen hanging from one balcony, and this is a sign that the building work is finished, although not entirely, as the finishing touches, and details of the various departments, are now being done, in accordance with the instructions of the head doctors and of those who will eventually work in the corridors and spaces. Thus, completion is expected for June, exactly as scheduled.

Sixteen million euros has been received for the work, and another €9 million has been diverted from the initial destination, namely the Circolo Hospital. This is not the full sum, but it is enough to equip the new Maternity and Infant Hospital with technical, surgical and radiological equipment. The cost of furniture will be covered also with donations, particularly those that have come, and will continue to come, from the “Ponte del Sorriso” Foundation, which raised money to furnish every room in Paediatrics.

The new Del Ponte Hospital will be bigger; there will be one hundred more beds (from the current 120 to 220) with an enlargement of the space for Obstetrics, which will remain in the older hall, but will double the current number of beds, to 70. Gynaecology will be moved to the new building and will have around forty beds.

The most important change, however, concerns Infant Neuropsychiatry, which will have 12 beds, an important change in the Varese and Como area, albeit an unusual addition given that, in Lombardy, there are only three wards for this specialty.

There will also be intensive paediatric care, which is new for the Insubria area, and paediatric surgery, as well as the Province’s first specialised casualty department for children. Neonatology will be enlarged, and will have 30 places (10 extra), including 10 for intensive care. Also in this case, the Del Ponte Hospital will have an area of excellence, as the head of the Maternity and Infant Department, Massimo Agosti, explained. “It will be one of the first intensive neonatal care departments with single rooms, which respond better to the needs of parents facing intensive care. There’ll be a personalised model for admissions. After passing the most delicate phase, the mother and child will be transferred to enlarged rooms, with up to 4/6 beds, to allow the parents to associate and to help each other. Here too, each cot will have a bed provided for the mother."

Agosti is very pleased with the building that will contain the new Maternity and Infant Department in Varese, although many details still have to be made clear, above all the staff. "We’ve sent our recruitment plan to the Region, with a prediction of the needs of the future hospital,” the General Manager, Callisto Bravi, explained. “Now we’re waiting to discover what they decide in Milan."

If everything goes according to plan (with the funds provided in good time), the new Del Ponte Hospital will be operational in 2016. By that time, it is hoped there will also be a new multi-storey car park, which should be built next to the railway embankment. Varese Town Council has already given permission to the private individual who asked to build it; the work may start as early as next January, although this is not currently certain.