CEB approves a € 10 million loan to San Marino for key investments in public healthcare
Prior to the COVID-19 outbreak, public emergency healthcare in San Marino relied on a single state hospital with six intensive care unit (ICU) beds and a patient referral system with the neighbouring regions of Emilia Romagna and Marche in Italy. The hospital did not have an infectious disease department. The pandemic greatly challenged in-country and cross-border capacities and forced the Government, through the Institute of Social Security, to reorganise the existing hospital.

The CEB loan will support the further reorganisation of the public hospital and the purchase of additional medical and pharmaceutical equipment, supplies, and consumables. San Marino’s hospitalisation capacity will thus improve to 20 ICU and 70 coronavirus-dedicated beds, while medical supplies, such as diagnostic tests, will help with containing another potential outbreak. In addition, the loan will cover disinfection services and costs incurred to isolate wards, as a result of the new hospital set-up.