Doctors call for help Poland, as the death toll from the pandemic in the country is rising rapidly.
When the coronavirus pandemic broke out, Kinga Slacic-Viroba, an anesthesiologist at Stefan Zeromski Specialist Hospital in Krakow, Poland, had to manage one patient with covid-19 and ten others in the intensive care unit with the help of three other doctors.
Now that the third wave of the pandemic has hit Poland and the number of patients with covid-19 in the intensive care unit of the hospital has reached 17, with only 4 other patients with other diseases. About 80% of patients with covid-19 are estimated to die, according to AMPE.
But Slacic-Viroba still has the help of three other doctors.
“Physically we do the best we can, but often we are not able to offer the treatment we would like “, he explained, explaining that when he has a shift he often does not manage to take a break to sit.
The number of deaths of patients with covid-19 exceeds 800 daily and the country has recorded a record number of surplus deaths in Europe, with epidemiologists estimating that severe shortages of medical staff are one of the main causes.
Slacic-Viroba is exhausted after a 24-hour shift during which she has to reassure the relatives of the patients. He points out that the admission of patients in critical condition in recent weeks has surpassed “even my worst nightmares”.
Across Poland, doctors are complaining about huge queues of ambulances in hospitals or the postponement of non-covid-19-related surgeries involving non-life-threatening conditions.
“The country was unprepared for a pandemic of this magnitude (…) There are no beds, staff, no stocks “commented Professor Christoph Simon, epidemiological consultant of Lower Silesia.
According to Eurostat, Poland had just 2.4 doctors and 5.1 nurses per 1,000 inhabitants in 2017, among the lowest rates in the EU, even before the pandemic.
Many doctors have gone abroad in search of a better salary, and health expenditures are not enough to attract or retain healthcare staff.
“The health system is at its limits now, but it is at its limits for as long as I can remember. This epidemic has multiplied all its shortcomings, “said Peter Merrick, head of the covid unit at Zeromski Hospital.
This means that deaths have risen sharply this year, doctors say, as patients with covid-19 are reluctant to go to the hospital for fear of poor conditions there, while patients with other diseases are neglected as doctors are transported to covid units.
After Brazil, Poland has the second highest number of confirmed deaths worldwide in the week ended April 13, according to Our World in Data.
Solutions;
The government has promised to address the issue, but it is difficult to find healthcare staff despite efforts to use medical students and doctors from Ukraine.
“You can buy equipment, set up campaign hospitals, find more beds, but staff are what are causing the problem,” Health Minister Adam Nidzilski said in February.
In a statement to Reuters, the ministry said that has taken legislative action in recent years to recruit more doctors and nurses.
But as patients flock to hospitals, Merrick said that was not enough and called on the government to prepare for future pandemics.
“We can not show these doctors out of nowhere or clone them” commented.
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