The situation is tragic: within two weeks, scheduled treatment services must cease

Vaidotas Grigas, director of the Molėtai Hospital and chairman of the board of the Union of Lithuanian Medical Executives, predicts that this may happen within two weeks, as hospitals will simply run out of staff to treat coronavirus patients.

Aušra Bilotienė-Motiejūnienė, Managing Director of Santara Clinics, spoke in a similar way. According to A. Bilotienė-Motiejūnienė, many healthcare workers are at risk based on age, chronic, comorbid, suffer from COVID-19 disease or are in self-isolation, so it may even be necessary to suspend certain planned treatment services.

I do not listen to the opinion

V.Grigas, after remotely reading the report in the discussion “The second wave of COVID-19, how Lithuania is prepared to withstand it: problems and proposals” held at the Seimas on Thursday, warned that the second wave of coronavirus in Lithuania is completely different from the first.

“We were very satisfied with the results of the first wave, we were happy to keep the health facilities ‘clean’ for the most part, but the whole system was off. Of course, by doing practically nothing, not much could have happened.

The situation is different at the moment. The action, in our opinion, is long overdue. This situation is totally out of control the day after the elections, which was recognized by the Minister of Health, ”said V. Grigas.

According to the doctor, the measures to manage the pandemic were applied late, which is demonstrated only with the permission to basketball games, despite the contagion rates, to rage 5 thousand. fans.

“In the opinion of all our doctors, it hurts us, as a community, that they will have to solve this whole problem not only at the cost of our own health, but also at the cost of the health of our families,” Grig said.

According to the doctor, neither the first nor the second wave took into account the views of the Lithuanian Medical Association expressed on the management of the epidemic and its proposals.

“Our goals have been to keep as many ‘clean’ facilities as possible, that is, patients with COVID-19 should not be treated in those facilities, redistributing flows so that as many people as possible receive additional services that are not available. . combatand scheduled services as well. We are not only talking about planned operations, but also about consultations, rehabilitation of various specialists, etc. ”, Said V. Grigas.

You will have to redistribute the flows

A ward for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 disease is scheduled to be appointed at Molėtai Hospital starting Monday.

The head of Molėtai Hospital said the lack of beds for treating COVID-19 patients is the biggest problem.

“We can provide as many beds as we want. We have the largest number of stationary beds in Lithuania: we can install up to 120 beds fight hospital. But it is necessary to assess the situation that we have a huge Nursing Department, a large outpatient unit, where our district is attended for specialist consultations, the Department of Internal Medicine, and there are enough personnel to fulfill all these responsibilities ”, said V. Grigas.

According to the doctor, due to the need to open fight the department will have to redeploy the staff so that its professionals do not work elsewhere. But this way, there will be an immediate personnel problem.

“Even medical institutions like the Santara Clinics or the Republican Hospital of Panevėžys are already beginning to face staff shortages. The biggest problem is not the creation of the beds, but who will take care of them: who will treat and care for the patients. God not. Like, one or two shifts will be out of work when you have to isolate yourself for two weeks, then we’ll face the biggest staffing problem.

It is no secret that a large number of staff are on the move, that is, they work in various treatment facilities. So, without a doubt, in a week or two, the planned services will definitely be restricted in many places, and they will not stop, ”predicted V. Grigas.

Financial resources are very limited

V. Grigas also listed more problems that threaten medical institutions. One of the biggest: financial. It is said that medical institutions will have to buy personal protective equipment themselves, unfortunately financial possibilities are limited and costs have increased significantly.

“Our financing depends on some kind of agreement signed with the medical insurance funds, the so-called one-twelfth, which was planned earlier this year, when there was no talk of a pandemic. Considering the need for both security measures and additional personnel, the costs have been enormous. We have long proposed to ensure sustainable funding to enable you to earn more money by providing more and more scheduled services. But there is a great risk that staff will get infected first and lose it.

We suggest that the funding of at least one twelfth is stable, but so far we have not received any response either, although this issue must be secured here and now ”, the head of the Molėtai Hospital did not hesitate.

V. Grigas noted that he did not know what security measures accumulated and what hardware reserves had accumulated.

“We know of the same vital signs monitors that were distributed, then assembled and where they disappeared is now unclear.

It is not clear how many reserves the State has to provide protective measures in medical institutions if there is a shortage of them, and I think there will definitely be a shortage of them in the future, because we are facing financial difficulties and will face even more in the future, “he said. the doctor.

It is proposed to expand the tests

According to Grig, sufficient human testing for the coronavirus has not yet been guaranteed. It should be expanded to include private laboratories.

“This is the first thing we must do and what other countries are doing. It is a test to keep as few contacts as possible to keep out the asymptomatic who come to work one day, chat with colleagues, the next day discover that it is COVID-19 positive, you must close the entire unit since we closed the kitchen on Saturday. Many institutions face this situation daily, “said the doctor.

At the conclusion of the report, V. Grigas admired: “The Lithuanian Medical Leaders Union offered help by participating in the discussions of various decisions, and unfortunately we were not involved in this whole situation. We have a lot of suggestions, but we always get orders from above, which we have to carry out without any discussion. “