On February 6, 2026, Milan’s San Siro Stadium will host the opening ceremony of the XXV Olympic Winter Games, with performances by international artists including Mariah Carey, Laura Pausini, and Andrea Bocelli. San Siro, also known as Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, is the city’s main football stadium and home to AC Milan and Inter Milan. But behind the spectacle that will be broadcast worldwide lies a vast and highly coordinated healthcare operation that poses a challenge for Lombardy’s regional health system (the publicly funded regional branch of Italy’s National Health Service).

The opening event is just the start of 17 days of Olympic competition (February 6-22), followed by the Paralympic Games (March 6-15). The events will involve more than 3500 athletes from 93 countries and an estimated attendance of about 400,000 people per day across the Milan and Valtellina clusters. Valtellina is a mountainous area in the province of Sondrio in northern Lombardy that will host several alpine events.

Four Pillars for Safety

The organization of medical services, developed in collaboration with ASST Grande Ospedale Metropolitano Niguarda (ASST Niguarda), one of Milan’s largest public hospitals, is structured on four levels of care, according to Guido Bertolaso, Lombardy’s regional official for health and welfare, who presented the plan during a meeting of the regional government.

The first level consists of rescue teams, operational at all competitive and noncompetitive venues, made up of physicians and nurses experienced in advanced life support, regional health system rescue technicians, and trained volunteers. Each competition venue will have at least two dedicated “medical stations,” one for athletes and one for the public, capable of providing immediate treatment and patient stabilization.

Olympic polyclinics located in the Olympic villages in Milan, Bormio, and Livigno will offer multidisciplinary care with services that include dentistry, ophthalmology, physiotherapy, and advanced diagnostics such as CT and MRI, with additional support through telemedicine services.

At the top of the care pyramid sits the Olympic hospital: ASST Niguarda, officially designated in January 2024, supported by the Morelli Hospital in Sondalo, Italy, to manage highly complex cases.

Coordinating Care Across Venues

One of the most significant innovations is the creation of an Olympic Operations Center at Niguarda Hospital, Milan, Italy, which will coordinate all health activities related to the Games using telemedicine for remote consultations — a model that is new for major sporting events.

Bertolaso told Univadis Italy, part of the Medscape Professional network: “The Olympic Games are not only an international sporting event of great importance but also a test bench for our health system. We have designed an organization that meets the highest safety and care requirements, integrating cutting-edge technologies and highly qualified professionals.”

The plan also includes bolstering the air ambulance service with three new helicopters operating in Milan, Bormio, and Livigno, and calls for a total of 15 basic ambulances, plus a team of 70 physicians, 90 nurses, and 230 rescuers.

Regional Emergency and Urgency Agency (AREU) in Emergency Management

Lombardy’s AREU plays a central role in planning and managing rescue services. AREU is responsible for coordinating emergency medical services and ambulance dispatch in Lombardy.

Massimo Lombardo, AREU’s director general, announced that 771 professionals — including doctors, nurses, and system technicians — have already been selected to ensure top-level medical rescue during the Games.

AREU’s responsibilities include managing medical emergencies for athletes, staff, and the public; setting up first aid points at competition sites and strategic areas; coordinating with hospitals for timely patient transfers; and collaborating with security authorities for critical scenarios.

The World Health Organization has warned that large gatherings at major sporting events can create conditions for the emergence of diseases and health problems, putting the host nation’s health systems under strain. Risks include increased international travel, pressure on emergency services, higher-risk behaviors, and the challenge of communicating effectively with participants from different countries.

In the Olympic context, the most common medical emergencies include sports trauma, acute cardiovascular conditions, respiratory problems related to cold stress, hypothermia in adverse weather conditions, and the risk for infectious diseases linked to the concentration of people from diverse countries. Experience from the Paris 2024 Olympics highlighted the importance of monitoring priority pathogens, such as influenza viruses, measles, poliovirus, and SARS-CoV-2, through wastewater surveillance.

Rapid Triage and Transport Drill

To test the system’s response capacity, AREU conducted a large-scale drill along the rail link between Piazzale Dateo and Porta Vittoria, two key nodes of Milan’s rail system, simulating an incident involving 24 injured people. The exercise involved about 50 people acting as casualties and being transported to hospitals, with the establishment of an advanced medical post and operational triage within minutes.

The region’s central emergency command center declared a mass-casualty incident and activated the health response device, dispatching 10 basic ambulances, 4 advanced ambulances, and 118 emergency teams from Milan. The simulated casualties were classified as 7 red (critical), 12 yellow (serious), and 5 green (minor) and transported to city hospitals, which activated their internal emergency plans.

Riccardo Stucchi, director of Milan’s 118 dispatch center, told Univadis Italy: “Only with realistic drills can we measure our operational capacity.” The recent exercise was the fifth such simulation organized over the past year, focused on possible risk scenarios ahead of the upcoming Olympics.

Coordination Beyond Olympic Sites

Despite meticulous organization for the sporting events, Bertolaso sounded a warning during a national emergency medicine congress in December 2025: “There is no single coordinating body, and there is uncertainty about who will coordinate all the situations that could occur outside the sporting events” when “more than 1 million tourists and visitors” arrive in addition to 10 million Lombardy residents.

Bertolaso stressed that while the operational machine for athletes, the Olympic family, and spectators “is going well,” there is still no clear coordination for complex emergencies that could occur outside official venues.

ASST Niguarda has launched a recruitment drive for health personnel for the Olympics and Paralympics, seeking hundreds of operators to ensure care throughout the Games, as well as the days immediately before and after game time. Recruitment involves doctors from various specialties, nurses, physiotherapists, radiology technicians, podiatrists, social-health operators, pharmacists, psychologists, and technical-driver operators.

Alberto Zoli, director general of Niguarda and medical care manager for the Olympics, told Univadis Italy: “We are confident we can offer professionals a unique opportunity. Participating in the Olympic and Paralympic Games is an unparalleled experience.”

Transport, Housing, and Shift Support

The Lombardy regional government has allocated 50 million euros for the Olympic health services plan, of which €41 million are earmarked for building infrastructure, equipment, and strengthening specialist departments, and €9 million for recruitment and training of health personnel.

Mario Melazzini, Lombardy’s director general of welfare, confirmed that the €50 million are additional resources and not diverted from ordinary health care, ensuring continuity of care for the regional population.

Regional hospitals will serve as “partner hospitals” coordinated by ASST Niguarda, with the aim of ensuring a complete and efficient network of health services across the region for the duration of the Games.

As for personnel, recruitment will take place through agreements with local health authorities, rescue associations, and other public and private entities, with shifts organized in 5- to 7-day periods. For staff serving in Bormio and Livigno, daily shuttles to and from Milan will be available, while lodging for nonresidents in mountain areas and meals during shifts will be provided.

Health Legacy Beyond the Games

Giuseppe Massazza, chief medical officer for Milano Cortina 2026, told Univadis Italy: “Our goal is for the Milano Cortina 2026 Games to leave a tangible and concrete legacy, including, of course, a health legacy. The strength of our medical service lies not only in organizing the event but in close collaboration with local health systems.”

The implementation of medical services for these Olympics offers an opportunity to innovate and strengthen regional healthcare infrastructure. The organizational model developed, the technologies introduced, and the skills acquired by health personnel can also be applied after the Games, in routine management or in emergency contexts.

Many temporary polyclinics set up for the Games will be converted into community health centers, expanding access to local care. The collaboration between civil protection services and emergency medical teams tested during the Olympics is expected to serve as a model for future major events.

This story was translated from Univadis Italy.