The PLN 50 million (EUR 10.6 million) facility, built under the auspices of First Lady Agata Kornhauser-Duda, will provide pioneering medical care and rehabilitation designed to bring adult patients out of a coma, according to officials.
People with brain injuries will receive a range of treatments, from cryotherapy and hydrotherapy to cold laser therapy and manual therapy, Polish state news agency PAP has reported.
The hospital, dubbed Budzik (Alarm Clock), is modelled after a similar facility for children that has so far brought out more than 100 young patients out of a coma, according to actress Ewa Błaszczyk, whose Akogo Foundation was behind the idea for both hospitals.
Kornhauser-Duda said at the opening that the project "builds a community of empathy and solidarity with coma patients" in Poland.
The bulk of the funding for the new facility, PLN 44 million (EUR 9.3 million), came from a special fund administered by the Polish justice ministry.
Deputy Justice Minister Marcin Romanowski told the ceremony: “Life is the greatest gift that we should care for, especially as it's so fragile.”
More than 600 people go into a coma in Poland every year, including around 150 children, the PAP news agency reported.
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Source: PAP
Click on the audio player above to listen to a report by Radio Poland's Michał Owczarek.