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“There is no Kovid-19 patient who has been treated in a hospital and then made a full recovery. Life is different after that,” Dr. Stoyan Monev, who works at Gutersloh, told SG. This is what he said in an interview with SG:
Stoyan Monev is a doctor at Gutersloh Municipal Hospital. Since August 2020 he has been working in the intensive care unit. He specializes in internal medicine, infectious diseases, and emergency medicine. He is 35 years old and is from the town of Kermen, Sliven Municipality. Maria Ilcheva speaks to him.
Also in Germany the number of hospitalized patients with Kovid-19 is growing. Experts say that the beds in German hospitals are sufficient. However, others speak of an imminent “clinic collapse.” What is the situation in your hospital? Do you see?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: At the hospital where I work, the number of patients in the intensive care unit has doubled in the last nine days. There will be an increase in the next two to three weeks. This is inevitable. I believe that if a lockdown had not been imposed in the country, the intensive care of all patients, not just the Kovid-19 patients, could have collapsed in 3-4 weeks, and the planned operations would have been completely stopped so that operational nurses to care for patients with Covid-19. However, so far the situation in our hospital is stable, we have the lowest coronavirus mortality in all of Germany. However, 30% of our capacity is already occupied by patients with Kovid-19, and 20% is blocked because there is not enough honey. nurses to care for you. Approximately 10 people a day suspected of Kovid-19 come to us. And one of those patients requires a huge resource: up to three other patients. And although the situation with us is under control for now, we are forced to cancel the planned operations. In the hospital itself we treat everyone, we try not to delay chemotherapy, but this is only possible up to a certain number of admitted patients. Once we cross the critical line, chemotherapy will be delayed.
Germany is said to be coping better with the crisis than its neighbors, and from other countries around the world: patients from neighboring countries such as the Netherlands and France have been transferred to German hospitals. Why has Germany managed to cope, at least for now, and others have not?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: The fact is that Germany, at least so far, is coping better with the pandemic. Germany has 35.3 intensive beds per 100,000 inhabitants, Italy – 8, Great Britain – 10, Belgium – 17. We have a significantly greater resource than the others and can accommodate many more patients. Furthermore, here we are further removed from others and more disciplined as a society. Sometimes this has advantages, especially during a pandemic. Most Germans followed the measures, but there were twenty percent who continued to celebrate in large groups: they are the reason for the second wave. Until recently most of those infected were young, now they have transmitted the virus to their parents, their parents are already patients and it is they who will overload the health system. Because some of these patients will stay in the intensive care unit for 4-6 weeks.
What do you expect from now on? How do you expect the situation in Germany to develop?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: I expect an increase in the number of infected in the next 2-3 weeks, after which there will probably be a decrease, due to restrictions. The effect of them cannot be felt immediately. However, without strict measures, in a month we would probably have 100,000 new infections a day. And with such figures, the health system would collapse in a month.
Despite growing reports from a growing number of patients, many people deny the virus. There are them in Bulgaria, there are also them in Germany. What would you say to these people?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: I would tell you that you must learn to verify the information you find on the Internet, so as not to become easy victims of those who profit from the spread of fake news or so-called fake news. “alternative positions”. I would also say this: there is no “alternative medicine” and there are no “alternative facts.” Everything that works is part of the official medicine – in the hospital we also treat with plant extracts, enzymes from bats, honey from Australian bees – everything that has a proven effect, we use it in classical medicine. So it is with science. The phenomena that identify themselves as “alternative” are in fact false.
Do you have patients who did not believe in the existence of the virus? What do they say after being admitted to your treatment?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: We rarely have them. But there is something more interesting: I am surprised that among the patients with Kovid-19 in our hospital there is a disproportionate proportion of people with a Russian accent and a foreign name. Many of them share what they have heard about miracle treatments and vaccines that have only been available in Russia. I know that this “news” is broadcast by Russian state television Russia Today. We hear those things every day. For example, the lie that the Russian vaccine was ahead of Western vaccines. It was put into a field experiment before passing phase 3 of a clinical trial, and other vaccines were already in this phase before the Russian one. I remember a patient with a German name and a strong Russian accent who could not and did not want to believe that he had a typical bilateral Covid-19 pneumonia. He will stay in the hospital for 14 to 21 days and it is not certain that he will survive.
There is increasing talk about post-Kovid syndrome, which is characterized by severe fatigue. What are your observations? What do you know about this syndrome?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: There are practically no patients who have been treated in the hospital and then can make a full recovery. I mean those hospitalized, not those who have just tested positive. We have many cases of patients without comorbidities who have participated in marathons every year. After spending Kovid-19 in hospital for months, they have polyneuropathy or report that they can no longer drain even half of their old section. Older people are immobilized and many of them die shortly after discharge or in a rehabilitation clinic. Previously, most patients led an active life, drove, engaged in a voluntary initiative, after the disease can not return to their previous lives. There is still insufficient data on the effects of Kovid-19.
Were there infected doctors in your clinic?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: Yes, a dozen infected doctors and nurses were treated here. Most of them had been infected while on vacation or by a loved one. Two honey. nurses and a doctor were in command of breathing, they developed serious complications but survived.
Are you worried about the situation in Bulgaria?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: The situation in Bulgaria should concern every sane person. I see images of public transport, crowded bars and discos. My parents also tell me that no one wears a mask around them and they are almost some exotic exceptions to the recommendations.
Can you make a brief comparison between Germany and Bulgaria in terms of fighting the pandemic?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: In the first pandemic wave, Bulgaria was an example to follow, but now it is in exponential growth, which can no longer be controlled. The difference is that the majority of Germans support the measures or believe that they are necessary, while many Bulgarians believe in conspiracy or herd immunity. Disappointment with the institutions makes Bulgarians in principle mistrust everything that comes from the government. However, when it comes to a pandemic, one thing should be known: ineffective measures are better than no measures.
What would you say about tips like: stabilize your immune system to avoid infection, take vitamin D and the like?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: The truth is that in Kovid-19 you do not die from a weak immune system, but from your reaction. When it comes to bacterial or fungal infections, the overall response of the immune system is important. But when we talk about a virus, we need specific antibodies that build up after illness or after vaccination. There is no way to achieve such a specific response of the immune system with vitamins and herbs, it does not make sense to recommend them. We have known for 15 years that taking a multivitamin can reduce life expectancy and can increase the risk of cancer. It is about a billion dollar pharmaceutical industry repeating pre-WWII poverty mantras to educate consumers about its products.
What would you advise our readers? How to behave in this situation?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: Comply with what is published by the world scientific community and do not blindly believe in doubtful information. Let them know: the mask protects others. Allow them to wear a mask indoors outside your home, as well as on those streets where there is a lot of foot traffic. Keep your distance and behave sensibly in relation to your social life. No one died of fear or that the bar closed at 11:30 pm
What is your hospital doing for your personal safety as a doctor?
Dr. Stoyan Monev: We have dust masks, which were allowed for Kovid-19, as I understand from the Chinese stamp on them. We have full body protective clothing that I see used for paintball, but they were allowed. We have enough gloves and disinfectants, if the hand sanitizer disappears from the market again, our pharmacy begins to produce it itself; there is a recipe posted on the WHO website. The breweries donated ethanol for this purpose. If the preparation is done on the spot, a different smell is felt, this means if there is a shortage at the moment.
