Those in charge of the polyclinics are already waiting for imminent changes: there will be hundreds of dissatisfied again

The order of A. Veryga, as head of operations, states that the provision of scheduled services should be restricted if the two-week morbidity rate in Lithuania is 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and in a particular municipality – 100. This was confirmed by the Advisor to the Minister of Health Lina Bušinskaitė

As early as Monday, at a press conference, when A was asked, Veryga if there was a threat of restriction on scheduled services, he said: “Such circumstances may arise when it is necessary to restrict the provision of scheduled services. No one plans to completely abandon them as there are some that are really needed. But because the outbreaks are so large, some services may need to be suspended for a time. “

Last Friday, the minister also named another criterion that would mean that scheduled services will be restricted. This is the bed occupancy rate for coronavirus treatment.

According to the minister, the number of beds currently occupied in hospitals for the treatment of coronavirus is 35 percent.

“In practice, the path that would lead to certain measures related to restrictions on the activities of medical institutions would be halfway there,” the minister said.

According to A. Veryga, Lithuania has estimated that the highest number of occupied beds allocated for coronavirus treatment in hospitals may be 70%.

“It just came to our notice then. We have 139 cases of hospitalized patients. Most of them, more precisely half of them, are from the Šiauliai region. We can see an increase in the number of patients needing oxygen therapy. But the The number of people in resuscitation, and especially those who need pulmonary ventilation, is not growing dramatically. The number of oxygen therapy procedures can be explained by the fact that doctors themselves use them more actively, sometimes as a kind of preventive measure to avoid further consequences, ”the minister said on Friday.

Hundreds of Šiauliai residents would stop providing services

Mindaugas Maželis, Director of the Polyclinic of the Šiauliai Center, for the portal Delphi He said the prospect of going back into quarantine was worrying: “We have opened as much as we could, and if we were to close again now, when we have over 1,000 patients live every day and around 700-800 more remote consultations. , I don’t know how it will be.

During the quarantine, for us as service providers, the shutdown was difficult. Then the flow of calls increased inhumanly. Of course, we’ve invested in a call center and accepted more people, and we’ve installed answering machines, call recording, and call-back features. But if everything happens again at a distance, you will not heal, nor will you consult as a specialist, nor will you draw blood “.

The doctor estimated that there would be a large number of patients who would be affected by the restriction of live services. These are both patients in children’s and psychiatric hospitals and those who need preventive examinations for work, driving licenses, acquisition of weapons. The latter occurs in about 100 a day. Another 250-300 outpatients could not receive dental services for some time, and around 60-70 people would be left without rehabilitation.

After quarantine – many dissatisfied

At present, the polyclinic has renewed all services 100 percent, although, as the director pointed out, the order is now stricter, anyone can enter if they wish. They are admitted only after pre-registration, and their temperature is measured, where and what is going.

“During the quarantine, the activities were completely suspended, only the necessary assistance was provided. We ourselves were afraid of everything and people were afraid of everything. After the quarantine, when we had already opened, there was both discontent and congestion of the people, as in all of Lithuania, we can’t answer phone calls.

Now everything has stopped in some places. So far so good, we are doing it. We don’t have any sick yet, thank God. We provide all the protections and maintenance. But I don’t know what will happen if we have to restrict them again, “said M. Maželis.

During the quarantine, despite the limited provision of scheduled services, the treatment facilities still received a twelfth payment, but according to the head of the polyclinic, it was not paradise for patients: “And we work for patients. We need to do the work, we have prevention programs ”.

The number of people willing to get vaccinated has doubled

Although the flu season has already started, according to M. Maželis, so far no large lines have formed at the polyclinic. It is true that now the fever clinic that belongs to your outpatient clinic has started to work again every day (in the summer, when there was no great demand, it worked twice a week), but the flow of patients here is small, only about 7-9 per day.

The flow of people willing to vaccinate has increased much more. Flu vaccines are especially coveted this year.

“We have even opened a second vaccination room for vaccination against influenza. We asked for twice as many flu shots as we did last year. Already last year, there was a strong desire from people to get a flu shot. It has doubled this year. In the case of free vaccines (financed by the State Compulsory Medical Insurance Fund (PSDF), aut. past.) the queue is huge. The vaccination room vaccinates 70 to 80 people every day, ”said the head of the Šiauliai Center polyclinic.

Ordered larger quantities of vaccines

Paulius Kibiša, director of the Kaunas City Polyclinic, and Daiva Kanopienė, director of the Vilnius Šeškinė Polyclinic, also noted the increase in people’s desire to get vaccinated.

“This year we will receive 20% of the vaccine reimbursed by PSDF. more than last year. A total of 13 thousand are planned. dose. In practice, we have already registered patients in mid-October for the first batch of vaccine reimbursed by the state, as we receive the vaccine in installments and ask that the remaining quantity be delivered. We have also bought 44 percent. more vaccines than paid for last year, “Kibiša said, noting that last year the interest in flu vaccines was greater:” After all the denial, people woke up from a lethargic sleep. “

D. Kanopienė also said that people have rushed to get the flu vaccine more actively this year and that half of the 4,000 doses of the state-funded vaccine ordered by the polyclinic have already been received.

He did not relax even after the quarantine.

Although there are currently queues at polyclinic vaccination clinics, neither Vilnius polyclinics nor Kaunas polyclinics still see a large flow of patients with flu or colds.

What if the provision of scheduled services were restricted?

“We are prepared for that, if the COO decides. We were one of the first to implement restrictions and releases.

And now we haven’t relaxed yet, even though we upgraded our services to 100 percent in September. For now, we control the pace: we only admit those who have registered, the temperature is measured for everyone. Furthermore, all employee meetings are held remotely, ”said P. Kibiša.

D. Kanopienė also said the lessons of quarantine have been learned and they are prepared for a possible restriction of services.

Currently, we have completely renewed the provision of direct contact services. Only at the primary level do general practitioners, psychiatrists and psychologists provide remote services of up to 30-40% in consultation, as required by current legislation. Of course, if there is an instruction, we will return to remote services; we already did it during the quarantine, ”said D. Kanopienė.