From Thursday

Corona: Styria restarts old hospital

Sharp criticism comes from the medical director of LKH Hörgas, Florian Iberer: "The provincial councillor obviously doesn't know how much post-Covid patients are suffering".

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

532 coronavirus patients were hospitalized in the Styrian provincial hospitals on Wednesday, 78 of them in the intensive care unit. Capacity has already been expanded, and the former hospital in Hörgas north of Graz will also be back in operation from Thursday. For the time being, 22 patients can be accommodated here, with up to 44 beds possible.

"The building is superbly equipped, it's beautiful and functional," enthuses Florian Iberer. The former professor at Graz Medical University and Head of Transplant Surgery at Graz Regional Hospital interrupted his retirement to help during the coronavirus crisis and manage the now reopened hospital in Hörgas.

Hörgas hospital

(Bild: Sepp Pail)

The first patients will arrive on Thursday morning. "We are starting with 22 beds and can expand to 44. We will hopefully be able to manage with that," says Iberer. Patients who have already survived the worst but are not yet ready for discharge, for example those who need rehabilitation after a stay in the intensive care unit, come here. Thanks to Hörgas, beds are freed up in the other hospitals.

In organizational terms, Hörgas is attached to Graz II LKH, which is where most of the staff come from, and the patients are also assigned via the infectiology department there. How long Iberer's assignment will last depends on how the pandemic develops "and how our fellow human beings keep their distance".