- EIB makes available EUR 25 million for the extension and modernisation of the North Estonia Medical Center near Tallinn.
- Apart from new construction, project will see extension of existing facilities to better serve patients needing different types of care.
The European Investment Bank (EIB) has signed a EUR 25 million, 20-year tenor, loan agreement with the Põhja-Eesti Regionaalhaigla or North Estonian Medical Centre (NEMC). The financing will support the new construction of a psychiatric clinic, as well as a new building to consolidate the pathology, oncology and haematology departments of the hospital, responding to an urgent need for better inpatient and outpatient facilities. Next to the EIB loan the project is financed by the Nordic Investment Bank, European Structural Funds, and is expected to benefit from an upcoming loan from the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB).
The new facilities will allow to further optimise the healthcare processes thought modern technologies and digitisation. Especially the psychiatric facilities will benefit, as the new building will allow the psychiatric clinic to move out of its current 140-year old premises in the Seewald estate on Paldiski road. The main objective is to improve comfort, quality and safety of housing and recreational areas for patients, as well as to provide a more modern and safer workplace for healthcare personnel.
The EIB’s Vice President Thomas Östros commented: “In the current climate, investments in medical facilities – even if not directly related to Covid-19 – are all the more relevant. The North Estonia Medical Centre will be able to provide high standards of care in new, more accommodating facilities, while importantly also improving the working environment for healthcare staff. The EIB is squarely behind this project, which is set to take care of a large portion of the Estonian population for years to come.”
Agris Peedu, Chairman of Management Board of the North Estonia Medical Centre, commented: “The new buildings will form a vital part of Mustamäe medical campus, enabling us to do what we are best at - provide medical care to our patients. During these challenging times, it is especially uplifting to say that the construction of the new facilities will start this year. We are looking optimistically towards the future, knowing the hard work our medical staff and engineers have put into these projects will bear fruit.”
The new psychiatric facility, which will provide space for 248 hospital beds, is the main component of the project. Constructing a new building will allow for improved care for patients in more accommodating facilities, while also improving the energy efficiency of the building itself. Further parts of the financing will be used to construct the new “building-Y”, which will house the pathology centre, the oncology and haematology clinic. The up-to-date hospital premises will improve patient care and enable the optimisation of health care processes, treatment costs and the improvement of diagnostic paths.
This is the second EIB-investment to NEMC, after having financed the initial construction in 2011, when a new high-tech diagnostic and treatment centre were built, and existing facilities were refurbished.