The private “Columbus” clinic along Via Emilia is ready to expand on the ground floor, occupying the spaces where the bank was located until a few years ago. They will be transformed into polyclinics where some Bufalini specialist doctors will carry out their extra-hospital activity. The paid one, in addition to the work they do within the public structure.
To be able to carry out this metamorphosis, a request was presented to the Municipality to obtain an exemption building permit. This special procedure was necessary because, in addition to a building renovation with the merger of two real estate units, the intended use of a portion of the large complex in Viale Marconi 267 and 271 will be changed. Currently on the first floor there is the “Columbus”, while a part of the ground floor is occupied by the “Columbus Medical Center”, while in the remaining part the former Cassa dei Risparmi di Forlì was active until September 2001. On the second floor there are offices and professional studios. Now, in place of the credit institution, it is planned to expand the “Columbus Medical Center”, creating clinics intended for hospital doctors in so-called “extra moenia” professional activities. This type of paid service has been expanding for some time and without stopping, because those who can afford it prefer to cut waiting times in this way, which in some sectors are very long.
The problem is that it would not be possible, from an urban planning point of view, to transform the premises used by the bank up to 4 and a half years ago into a medical facility. Therefore, an exemption had to be requested, taking advantage of a possibility provided by the regulations for buildings of public interest, a classification that depends on the type of activity carried out, regardless of whether the property is private or not. Polyclinics are indicated among the services that fall into this category. The “Columbus”, which year after year is acquiring growing notoriety, is thus about to make another leap in quality, after having also invested a lot of money in the purchase of latest generation diagnostic equipment.
