Italian ICMIF member the Unipol Group, through its insurance business UnipolSai Assicurazioni, has allocated EUR 20m to help combat the Coronavirus emergency in the most severely affected areas of Italy.

In close cooperation with the Regional Authorities, the Civil Protection Authority and the officials involved in managing the emergency, Unipol will allocate said resources to increase the number of beds in hospitals, especially in intensive care and semi-intensive care units, and purchase the necessary healthcare equipment to try to help stop the epidemic from spreading.

One of the main actions was the allocation of EUR 6m to be used as follows in agreement with the Lombardy region:

• for the extraordinary purchase of ventilators and consumables such as face masks, protective suits, disinfectants and instruments needed for the healthcare facilities to treat patients as best as possible and limit the risk of contagion;
• to create a new emergency facility in the Fiera Milano City pavilions, a 400-bed hospital devoted to intensive care and semi-intensive care for patients with the Covid-19 virus.

In agreement with the Emilia Romagna region, EUR 5m was donated for the following:

• to create a new 90-bed wing at the Sant’Orsola Hospital in Bologna for Coronavirus patients, with 44 beds devoted to intensive care and semi-intensive care;
• to create a new 88-bed facility at the Bellaria Hospital in Bologna, with 73 beds devoted to intensive care and semi-intensive care and to develop the emergency department.

The allocation of further donations will be agreed with the regional and local authorities, and the Civil Protection Authority.

Wishing to support efforts to deal with the growing health emergency in a practical way, the Unipol Group has already taken a number of actions, directly purchasing ventilators for hospitals in Lombardy and Emilia Romagna, and making a number of intensive care beds and standard hospital beds available at the Villa Donatello clinic in Florence in Tuscany.

At the same time, the Unipol Group hotel chain, Gruppo UNA, in association with the Civil Protection Authority and the Lombardy region, offered to accommodate medical and paramedical staff at its hotels in Milan and Varese. The UNA Hotel in Bologna-San Lazzaro was made available for the Emilia Romagna region.

In a press release last week the organisation said: “Our country is undergoing an extraordinary event and in addition to its commitments to deal with the healthcare emergency, the Unipol Group immediately took decisive action to help its valued customers. In addition to confirming that the coverage offered by its health insurance policies also covers the Coronavirus risk, it extended the daily allowance to any insured parties put into quarantine at home after testing positive for Covid-19 at no additional cost.

“In view of the pressure on the public health services, it also established a Coronavirus medical consultation service available 24/7 for its insured parties through the UniSalute Medical Centre, the Group company devoted to prevention and the protection of health,” the press release said.

The UnipolSai #AndràTuttoBene product has also been created giving a daily hospitalisation allowance of EUR 100 and EUR 3000 in compensation if any employees of companies who subscribed to the coverage find themselves in intensive care.