A military hospital will be annexed to the new Südspidol destined to group together the activities currently performed by the Emile Mayrisch hospital centre (CHEM) in Esch-sur-Alzette. The Südspidol facility will offer 590 hospital beds and 16 operating theatres.
If the project runs according to plan, the military hospital annexe could be functional by 2028.
According to Bausch, the costs incurred by the new infrastructure could be incorporated into NATO's defence expenditure. The hospital could therefore be used in a crisis to treat large numbers of patients after a terrorist attack or a pandemic. In normal times, the building could be used as a research or training centre, in particular for doctors specialising in emergency situations.
An inter-ministerial working group is currently drafting the specifications in collaboration with the AMMD and the University of Luxembourg, before commissioning experts for a feasibility study. Bausch provided this information to the parliamentary defence committee in response to a query posed by the ADR party.
The Luxembourg government is also overseeing the renovation of the NATO site, formerly of Namsa, in Capellen. The budget for the project, which includes 40 buildings, is set at around 200 million euros.
