Saint Mark is, among other things, the patron saint of builders, bricklayers and glaziers. From this point of view, nothing should go wrong with the new construction of the Hauner Children’s Hospital at the Klinikum Großhadern, because three Markusse first swung the word and then the shovel at the groundbreaking ceremony on Monday afternoon.
Markus Lerch, the medical director of the LMU-Klinikum, welcomed around 250 guests and outlined the life of the clinic’s founder and namesake August von Hauner, the history of the hospital on Goetheplatz and the new building that is now being built – according to Lerch, it should be the “most modern Children’s Hospital of Europe”. Lerch said that 24.5 million euros in donations had been received so far, which he said was a great example of civic engagement.
Prime Minister Markus Söder said right at the beginning of his speech: “Actually, we should have done this a long time ago.” He was referring to the sheer endless planning history for the “New Hauner” – a good twelve years have passed since the first collection of ideas. Then Söder announced that the last investment sum of 400 million euros was already outdated; It should now be 600 million.
He called for a “medical strategy for Bavaria” to be developed so that the Free State could play in the “Champions League for Medicine”. He contradicted a report by Süddeutsche Zeitung, according to which he or his state chancellery had campaigned for the date of the groundbreaking for election campaign reasons. Finally, he said that the “New Hauner” would become a “super Bavarian hospital”.
A child’s dearest wish for the “New Hauner”: a slide
Minister of Science Markus Blume began his speech with a slip of the tongue: he wanted to confirm the investment sum mentioned by Söder, but instead of millions said billions – 600 billion euros, that would actually be a sum for a clinic. Söder switched quickly and called out to Blume from the table: “Then that would be your last groundbreaking.”
Blume called the meeting an “absolute heartfelt appointment”. He reported on a film from the old Hauner, in which a small patient was asked what he wanted for the new clinic – he thought a slide would be nice. The minister then said that at a cost of 600 million euros, a slide should actually be in there.
Uta Riedel from the Munich 2 State Building Authority presented the details of the plan: the new clinic will have 19,000 square meters, spread over seven floors, five of which are above ground. There will be a large data center, a photovoltaic system on the roof, a school for the sick, rooms for research, teaching and training and two therapy gardens.
At the end, the two doctors who will mainly be in charge of the New House spoke: Oliver Muensterer, Director of the Children’s Surgery Clinic, was looking forward to new therapeutic options, Christoph Klein, Director of the Children’s Clinic, said: “We want to be advocates for sick children.”