It is the fourth facility of its kind to be announced in the UK as part of the country’s ongoing effort to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic, and the first to be established in Scotland.
Last week the Government unveiled plans to temporarily repurpose three conference centres in England as auxiliary hospitals to treat Coronavirus patients.
The first to be announced was the new NHS Nightingale Hospital, which is set to open within the ExCeL convention centre in London’s Docklands this week.
This was followed by the go-ahead to build two further emergency hospitals, in the Birmingham NEC and the Manchester CCC respectively.
The Glasgow SEC facility could be open within two weeks with an initial capacity of 300 beds. However, that could be expanded to hold more than 1,000 beds if required.
In a statement, Scotland’s First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said: “Our NHS is on an emergency footing and all health boards have been undertaking extensive work across Scotland to maximise the capacity available to manage expected rise in demand due to Covid-19.
“As a safeguard and to provide extra flexibility, we have been working closely with the military to plan and build this facility, which will initially be for use by those who have been through hospital treatment and are recovering from their symptoms.”
