Aramco's donation helps to increase capacity at children's hospital in Italy

In Europe, we are supporting countries with significantly high impact of COVID-19. In Italy, we donated 350,000 euros to the Buzzi Foundation to assist them with their tireless medical work, which supports nearby communities in Lombardy and the country as a whole. Established in 2003, the foundation was soon transformed into a children's hospital with the aim of creating a first class, world-renowned pediatric hospital.

Following the COVID-19 emergency, which highlighted the dramatic lack of beds in intensive care units (ICU), the Italian Ministry of Health asked hospitals to increase capacity in order to respond immediately to a wave of COVID cases. In the Milan and Lombardy region (the worst hit area in the country) hospitals had to triple bed capacity and admit adults into intensive care units designed for children, due to shortages.

During the first days of the pandemic children seemed less affected and did not require intensive care medical treatment. However, as the situation became worse, Buzzi hospital itself had to source equipment to deal with the increase in cases and replace equipment it originally donated to other hospitals.

The Foundation were also able to support the doubling of ICU beds in a very short time and in the Lombardy region as a whole, capacity went from about 700 to 1,400 beds. The pandemic had interrupted Buzzi's plans to expand into a bigger hospital due to the demand for beds. These plans were to build a new extension, a pavilion dedicated to pediatric emergencies that will double the number of children currently treated, as part of the newly titled 'Grand Buzzi'.

Aramco’s donation will also go towards achieving the goal of creating extra capacity, by funding two complete units in the new hospital. The aim is to be able to increase the number of the children treated beyond COVID-19 to 60-70 pediatric medical and surgical patients per bed, annually.