Rome is getting Italy's first public veterinary hospital
Environment — di Simone Santi
Rome will soon be home to Italy's first public veterinary hospital: it will expand an existing shelter at Muratella.
Rome is getting Italy's first public veterinary hospital
Rome will soon be home to Italy's first public veterinary hospital: it will expand an existing shelter at Muratella.
- Construction work has begun to expand the Muratella animal shelter to create the public veterinary hospital.
- It will provide free care for animals in shelters and catteries, and for those adopted from public facilities. But funding is being sought.
- There will be an emergency unit, two operating theatres, post-surgical recovery wards and an intensive care unit.
Rome will soon be home to Italy's first public veterinary hospital, designed and funded by the city council. The facility will expand the Muratella animal shelter, located in the southern quarter of the capital. Work began on 26 February, and the new veterinary hospital will feature three interconnected yet distinct areas: one dedicated to emergency care with a nursing station; one housing two fully equipped operating theatres (with surgeon preparation rooms and a sterilised instrument room); and another for additional services, including staff changing rooms and bathrooms, a post-surgical recovery and intensive care ward (fitted with appropriate kennels for dogs), an X-ray laboratory and an analysis laboratory, as well as staff facilities.
The facility will also house new outpatient clinics, examination rooms and diagnostic assessment suites. The total cost of the works, expected to last 21 months, will be approximately 6.5 million euros and will also cover the renovation and upgrading of service areas, offices and public reception spaces, a conference room, and the construction of three new buildings capable of housing up to 60 dogs, a dedicated unit for animals with infectious conditions, and an enclosed outdoor exercise area for dogs.
The veterinary hospital will be free for animals from shelters and catteries
Mayor Roberto Gualtieri explains that "Rome will finally have a public veterinary hospital — something it has never had before — with all the necessary services, primarily for the care of the many dogs and cats we manage across our numerous facilities before placing them for adoption." The council's aim, depending on available funding, would also be to provide free services at the public veterinary hospital to residents who have adopted their pet through municipal shelters and catteries. "We took inspiration from the example of Naples," where a university veterinary hospital run jointly with the local health authority already exists, "and important collaborations with universities have been launched — for instance with Tor Vergata, which has opened a veterinary faculty — and with local health authorities. It is a team effort, and Rome is finally taking a step forward in terms of civilised progress."
Roma avrà presto il suo primo ospedale veterinario pubblico, il primo in Italia realizzato con risorse comunali e sulla base di un nostro progetto! Al canile comunale di Muratella abbiamo infatti avviato i lavori che porteranno alla realizzazione di una struttura unica nel nostro
The City of Rome has also put out a call to private investors, without whom, Gualtieri states, the project could not be financially sustainable: "Rome is a large city and the council is not a healthcare provider, so we must match our ambitions of opening the hospital to everyone against the resources available. The more we can count on private generosity, the more this facility will be available to the whole city."