The Council chairman admitted that the County has a problem with the hospital. “But at its February session, the Bolesławiec County Council adopted a resolution to grant the hospital a subsidy of PLN 480,000: PLN 230,000 for preparing documentation and PLN 250,000 for a sterilizer,” Karol Stasiklisted. “What the county head promised the Council has been fulfilled.”
And he stressed: “We are determined to build a new operating theatre.”
It is to be built on the site of the old infectious diseases ward building, which will be demolished. The new building will have three floors. The intensive care unit will be on the top floor, a three-room operating theatre on the middle floor, and a central sterilization unit on the first floor.
K. Stasik added:
Since money must be carefully accounted for and the external situation taken into consideration—the European Union currently provides funding in healthcare mainly for equipment—the hospital management, in agreement with the County Board, has a concept of completing the building and utility infrastructure. Equipment would be limited to the operating theatre, and efforts would then be made to obtain external funding for further outfitting.
The total investment cost is approximately PLN 12 million (a version without top-of-the-range equipment) or approximately PLN 17 million (a “fully loaded” version, as the chairman put it).
County officials will probably opt for the cheaper version. How will they finance it? “A financial package is needed; some of the money will certainly come from the County budget,” Karol Stasik explained. “We will try to interest the municipal and town authorities in the construction of this operating theatre, because the county hospital provides services to all the municipalities located within the County. This is the County’s responsibility, but it will serve both the residents of the municipalities and the residents of the County, because they are the same people.”
The second option is to bring in an external manager for the hospital. The third? A so-called sale-and-leaseback of the property. “The County sells the property to an external entity, which provides the money to build the operating theatre. But the agreement includes a clause under which the local government buys back what it sold over a period of several years, paying rent,” the Council chairman explained. “We are also considering this option because it does not create County debt.”
What do you think? We invite you to join the discussion, and we will certainly return to the subject.