Major investment: Dresden gets new heart centre

Dresden. The days of the Dresden Heart Centre – right next to the university hospital site near the Waldschlösschenbrücke – are numbered. This is because the operator, Sana Kliniken AG, is building new premises and will be moving out of the old building.

Start of construction planned for 2026

The planned start of construction is 2026, with completion in 2029. Oliver Wehner, Managing Director of the Dresden Heart Centre, expects the new building to be fully operational in 2030. Until then, modern care is guaranteed at the current location. But we do have capacity problems here, i.e. waiting lists. If we had the new heart centre tomorrow, we would be able to treat patients more quickly.

The new building will double the capacity for hybrid operating theatres, for example.

Building site is right next to the university hospital

The new heart centre will be built on a vacant site on the corner of Blasewitzer Straäe and Fetscherstraße. Directly opposite is the site of the university hospital. The distances are therefore short. Collaboration with the medical faculty of TU Dresden in the areas of research and teaching is to be expanded.

The new building is a 294 million euro project. The Free State of Bavaria is supporting it with 150 million euros. On Tuesday afternoon, Saxony's Health Minister Petra Köpping (SPD) handed over the funding decision to Thomas Lemke, CEO of Sana Kliniken AG. „Cardiovascular diseases are one of the main causes of health problems and we must ensure that our population has access to first-class care“, said the Minister. 

The CEO of Sana Kliniken AG sees the construction of the new heart centre in Dresden as „one of the largest current infrastructure projects in the healthcare sector in the Federal Republic of Germany“.

Uncertain times

Many people who bear responsibility in the healthcare sector are currently looking to Berlin with great concern about what developments lie ahead for us all,

Thomas Lemke made clear at the presentation of the funding decision.

„It is not a question of whether things need to change, but rather how do you discuss, how do you discuss change processes. Do we do this together or do we then push things through. And in these generally uncertain times, do you manage to give people a bit of stability? What we are experiencing today is a real exception. Major projects are being stopped up and down the country because nobody knows what the framework conditions will be like in the future.

Project with nationwide appeal

Making investment decisions at the moment means a lot of courage, a lot of commitment, a lot of foresight and also optimism, regardless of the challenges we have to overcome in the coming years,

Thomas Lemke continued. In this respect, the construction of a new university heart centre is an extremely important project with nationwide appeal.

Lemke thanked the Minister of Health, the cabinet and the members of parliament in Saxony for their reliable cooperation.

Around 220 beds and helipad

The new heart centre will consist of three staggered building blocks and have a helipad on the roof. On a usable area of around 18,000 square metres, there will be around 220 beds plus day clinic places.

In addition to a central emergency department with a modern shock room, there will be four operating theatres, two hybrid operating theatres and five cardiac catheterisation laboratories.

Two MRIs and two CTs in the new building

For the increasingly important imaging diagnostics, the new heart centre will be equipped with two magnetic resonance tomographs (MRT), two computer tomographs (CT) and two conventional X-ray systems.

In addition, there will be intensive care beds, areas for research and teaching, transport logistics, laboratories and a reprocessing unit for medical products. Areas will also be created for the outpatient care of patients. An underground car park is planned in the basement.