Yesterday, the documentary: “Bellvitge, a hospital transformed by Covid-19” premiered at La 2 on TVE Catalonia, a document about the historical transformation that IDIBELL and the University Hospital of Bellvitge underwent during the Covid-19 pandemic. If you missed it or want to see it again, the documentary is now available on IDIBELL’s YouTube channel.

With this documentary, we wanted to report the transformation and opportunities that the new coronavirus has brought, an unknown disease that has caused an unprecedented health crisis. The documentary is a co-production of the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), the Bellvitge University Hospital (HUB), and the Minoria Absoluta producers. It lasts 14 minutes and delves into key scenarios of this pandemic in the HUB, such as the ICUs, the Emergency Services, Pneumology and Infectious Diseases, the Clinical Laboratory, or the IDIBELL research laboratories. The protagonists are professionals who narrate in the first person how they have lived the crisis, they talk about the stress of the first days, the tiredness, creativity, anguish, the pride of a job well done and the impulse of the investigation with the opening of multiple projects.

Salud Santos, head of the Pneumology Service and IDIBELL researcher, explains that, if they usually see 10 severe cases of pneumonia per year, during the pandemic they have seen between 30 and 40 every day. Rafael Máñez, head of Intensive Medicine and researcher at IDIBELL, adds that the beds of critics have also broken records: from 68 to 139, more than double. From the hand of witnesses such as Antonio Olid, transfer technician, the spectator discovers the significance of move 400 beds to mount new critical and hospitalization units, some in places as strange as the old operating rooms of 1972 or the lobby of External Consultations.

The documentary reflects the effort to generate new knowledge of this disease, shows the commitment to research, and reflects how IDIBELL has made a great effort of coordination and has launched different projects to fight the coronavirus. “Today’s research is tomorrow’s treatment -said Gabriel Capellá, director of IDIBELL- Adding a layer of knowledge, of evidence, is key to giving a better response to the health challenge”.