Amid concerns by some epidemiologists that a third wave of the pandemic is coming, a field hospital is being set up outside Toronto’s Sunnybrook Hospital.

The 100 patient beds will operate out of the parking lot as early as next month to help alleviate pressure on intensive care units in Toronto hospitals.

The Sunnybrook facility is one of the two specialized mobile field hospitals in the GTA promised by the Trudeau Liberals earlier this year.

Anthony Dale is president of the Ontario Hospital Association and says pressure on hospital staff continues to be overwhelming.

“Running every single assessment centre for COVID testing in the province, the laboratories in hospitals have been running 24-7 for most of the last year, hospitals are now running a large part of the vaccination program alongside public health, and they’re also trying to maintain access to ongoing elective or what’s called scheduled surgeries, and also fighting a pandemic,” Dale explained to CP24.

The Sunnybrook field hospital will have ventilators, oxygen machines, portable x-ray machines, and a negative-pressure system that cleans the air every two minutes.