<translation>Brno Faculty Hospital wants to build a new maternity hospital</translation>

Brno - The construction of a new maternity hospital costing nearly two billion crowns in the Bohunice complex of the Faculty Hospital Brno could start next year and be completed by 2019. This was said to reporters today by the hospital's director, Roman Kraus. Currently, the maternity hospital is located in two places: in Bohunice and several kilometers away at the Obilní trh in the city center, where the building is in a state of disrepair. According to Kraus, the new construction will bring savings and better organization of work.

About a third of the nearly two billion investment should be covered by the hospital, with the rest coming from the state budget. The hospital plans to sell the site at Obilní trh, which developers estimate to be valued at 600 to 700 million crowns according to Kraus. This should cover the hospital's share of the costs for the new maternity hospital.

The new maternity hospital has been talked about for a long time. According to Kraus, the hospital has currently provided an expert report on whether it is better to renovate the maternity hospital at Obilní trh or to build a new one in Bohunice. "This is the third report of this kind in the last eight years, but it was a requirement of the Ministry of Finance to approve the registration of the project, and thus the possibility of a tender for the project," Kraus stated.

He believes the project could be completed by the end of this year. "At the beginning of next year, a competition could be announced for the execution by a construction company. In my opinion, the construction should not take more than two years, completed with all equipment and everything. If all goes well, the maternity hospital from Obilní trh could relocate to Bohunice by the end of 2019," Kraus added.

The new building will not only be modern, but will also bring great progress from both economic and organizational perspectives, believes the director. "We will save 70 to 80 million crowns annually in operational costs. Currently, two facilities have a children's intensive care unit and operating rooms," Kraus stated. According to him, savings will also occur in personnel. However, the director does not plan to lay off healthcare workers; he believes that the merging of facilities and employees will be resolved by the spontaneous decrease in staff that the hospital often addresses and has to replenish. "If we do not replenish at the right moment, it will resolve itself. Reductions will likely occur among technical and economic staff, because there is, for example, a cafeteria and meal delivery at Obilní trh, which will no longer be needed. But I would not want to speculate on the numbers," Kraus added.

The Faculty Hospital Brno has around 6000 births annually, resulting in over 6000 children born. This makes it the largest maternity hospital in the Czech Republic.