Expected to open this week, the hospital will have 700 beds, a figure that can be increased to 1,000.
Three shifts of workers have been working round the clock since August 1 to turn the Tien Son Sports Complex into a field hospital able to treat the city's increasing number of COVID-19 cases. According to the master plan, the complex will house mild COVID-19 cases to free up local hospitals for more serious patients.
The 6,500-seat, 2,400-square-meter facility which typically hosts sporting events is being re-vamped by creating private rooms separated by wooden partitions. Each room will contain beds, mats and a ventilation system, and there will be additional space on the first floor for a laboratory.
This operation is similar to many sport stadium transformations around the world. Important city landmarks have shifted from places of sport and entertainment to somber facilities to treat the sick.
When Vietnam experienced its first wave of COVID-19 this past spring, Saigon opened a 300-bed hospital in Củ Chi District which is still being used as a quarantine facility for individuals returning from overseas.
[Photos via Tổ Quốc]