This stage has arrived after a more than fifteen-year process of planning and preparations, and it represents a milestone in the development of this region’s healthcare infrastructure.

“This is a unique building for the Czech Republic, and it is one of the largest investments in the South Moravian Region in recent years. In contrast to original expectations, we even managed to save 200 million crowns in the tender. When we receive the grant from the National Recovery Plan, we will have saved another 289 million crowns,” stated Jan Grolich, Regional Governor.

The specialized medical institute in Pasohlávky will offer 210 hospital beds. The goal is for the Pálava Sanatorium to become a key institution for patients that have been stabilized after serious and critical conditions, such as severe injury, head and spinal injuries, strokes, and surgery of the large joints. “The Pálava Sanatorium will fill a gap in the provision of follow-up medical rehabilitative care and will thus help support the existing rehabilitative care system at the national level. For example, today there are patients that have been waiting to be accepted into Kladruby or Hrabyně for up to several months, and many of these won’t even get to go for reasons of capacity,” said Jan Zámečník, Deputy Governor for Regional Development.

“The option of utilizing the positive effects of healing water is an undeniable advantage. This is natural water – thermal and strongly mineralized – that influences the musculoskeletal system in a beneficial way,” remarked Karel Podzimek, Councilor for Healthcare.

The winner of the public tender for construction was the company Sanatorium Pálava VCES – SPIE Stangl, which has two partners.

“We will take over the construction site, and, by the end of November, we will have begun earthmoving work, which will consist of terrain modification in the wake of the archeological survey and paving the way for construction,” remarked Zdeněk Pokorný, Chairman of the VCES a.s. Board of Directors, describing the work. He added, “We estimate that finishing and handing over the construction will happen during the autumn of 2025.”

The Pálava Sanatorium’s construction will be conducted according to Design & Build principles, which have worked out well for the South Moravian Region when awarding public tenders. “We received the building permit design from the South Moravian Region, and together with our partner in the association, the company SPIE Stangl Technik spol. s r.o., we will be drawing up execution design and providing our own project realization. In the upcoming days, we will initiate preparations for a virtual model of the new sanatorium using the BIM method (Building Information Management). This works with digital information models of the construction and makes it possible to have effective design, construction, and – last but not least – building operation. Together with the investor, we will then build on the successful way this method was employed in the project of the Children’s Sanatorium and Speleotherapy Centre in Ostrov u Macochy,” concluded Pokorný.

The company Thermal Pasohlávky a.s., whose task was to find a suitable use for plots of land in the municipality of Pasohlávky in the form of a spa complex or other healthcare facility, was founded in 2007. Eight years later, work was begun on zoning permit design for the Specialized Medical Institute – Sanatorium Pálava as a facility for providing follow-up medical care. The first project documents regarding the site permit were ready at the end of 2016.

“After a two-year archaeological survey, the project was made ready for a construction contract tender, but the COVID-19 pandemic unfortunately interrupted this. In order to eliminate time delay on the project, it was decided that project work directed towards obtaining building permit could continue; on this basis, the project was again prepared for a public tender for a construction contractor this year,” explained Vladimír Šmerda, Councilor for Investment.