March 20 (SeeNews) - The Croatian army has started building a tent camp in front of the Dubrava hospital in Zagreb as the country braces for a spread of the coronavirus disease, the defence ministry said.
The self-sustaining expeditionary camp will be able to accommodate 270 diseased patients, the defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
It is being built in compliance with a decision of the government and health ministry to provide additional facilities for medical care at the Dubrava hospital, where a primary emergency centre for the Zagreb area has been set up in the fight against coronavirus.
The construction of the camp of Alaska-type tents is planned to be completed by Saturday, the ministry said. Such camps are usually built to serve the military in extreme conditions, but are also intended for civil needs in times of humanitarian disasters.
Croatian health minister Vili Beros said in a separate statement on Thursday that a primary emergency centre for Zagreb and its surrounding areas has been set up at the Dubrava hospital with a capacity to accommodate some 300 patients.
Part of the Dubrava doctors and medical workers will be quickly trained and prepared to receive coronavirus patients, while the main building of the hospital remains a backup option in case the epidemic escalates, Beros said.
He added that the Croatian army and the tent camp it is building will be helping the health ministry cope with the crisis.
Similar primary emergency centres will be also built in Rijeka, Split and Osijek, the largest cities in Croatia.
The coronavirus cases in Croatia rose to 113 by Friday morning, according to the latest data released by the Croatian Public Health Institute. Five of the infected people have already recovered.