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With the increase in the number of coronavirus cases and the number of patients, the Vilnius City Municipality continues to increase the capacity to treat this disease. Staff shortages are still recognized as the biggest challenge of the pandemic, but efforts are being made to increase the number of inpatient facilities in parallel.
The number of COVID-19 patients is increasing
The Vilnius City Municipality recalls that the Vilnius City Clinical Hospital (VMKL) has been designated as a support hospital for the treatment of COVID-19 (after filling the regional hospital for COVID-19 – Santara clinics) . It was connected to the assistance for the treatment of patients with COVID-19 at the end of October (building 124 Antakalnio str.), But the assistance has been provided since the spring.
Last week, the number of patients at this hospital remained stable, with 80-85 patients treated with coronavirus being replaced by new patients. But this weekend, that number jumped to 124, hitting 122 on Tuesday morning.
Hospital capacities to treat COVID-19
At VMKL Hospital, starting with 30 beds for COVID-19 patients, today 130 beds have been prepared for this purpose and staff of the appropriate size have been mobilized.
In this part of the hospital, the wards would accommodate two beds each, although there is now only one. However, this requires additional oxygen “points”, which have been installed by the municipality in the last week. The municipality also delivered the missing pulse oximeters to the hospital.
When considering the delegation of hospital treatment facilities to coronavirus patients, a VMKL polyclinic is being considered as a possible option, where around 100 places could be installed without major investments and transformations.
This option would also have to address personnel issues. In an emergency, the patients of this polyclinic could be temporarily entrusted to the family doctors of the Antakalnis polyclinic (Antakalnio str. 59), and the doctors of the VMKL polyclinic would be transferred for coronavirus treatment after qualified training.
At the moment, the VMKL building on Antakalnio street is calculated as a more real reserve of hospital places. 57, where, according to Narimantas Markevičius, director of the hospital, at least 50 private oxygen beds could be used if the provision of surgery and therapy services is cut in half.
“According to the Santara clinics, there are currently around 300 places for coronavirus patients in the Vilnius region. A week ago, the expectation of the heads of the Santara clinics was expressed that this number should double as soon as possible, he said. Povilas Poderskis, head of the municipal administration of the city of Vilnius – Of course, this would also require the connection of regional hospitals, which unfortunately we cannot influence, but we would very much expect a declaration of the will of the Ministry of Health, since nobody is willing to give up until now. And while that help is lacking, we urgently need to seek our own reserves, taking care of the construction of a temporary hospital. “
The municipality recalls that all these hospital adaptations for the treatment of COVID-19 or nursing are on their own, according to the Ministry of Health, which allocated 50 million euros in August. Funding in euros for the adaptation of hospitals for the treatment of COVID-19 did not allocate funding to hospitals belonging to the Vilnius municipality. Meanwhile, the Santara clinics received $ 14.2 million. EUR, and Kaunas Clinics – about 10 million. euros.
COVID-19 Nursing Hospitals
In search of a hospital to care for elderly patients who are already recovering from the coronavirus and who no longer require special treatment, St. Rock Hospital. The M. Marcinkevičius Hospital is also evaluated for this purpose, but the relocation of 200 nursing patients should also be decided here.
In preparation for such a variant, until now the M. Marcinkevičius Hospital has found the most suitable place for the installation of additional liquid oxygen tanks; it is necessary not only for coronavirus patients. The current oxygen supply capacity of the hospital is insufficient; Although the hospital has 70 beds with oxygen supply, this number immediately drops significantly when the artificial lung ventilator is turned on in resuscitation.
The municipality is also consulting with the Molėtai Hospital to transfer part of the nursing patients there. However, this requires a decision by the Chief of Operations first.
Temporary hospital
The temporary hospital, which would be necessary to fill the beds of other COVID-19 hospitals, is planned to be installed in the Litexpo exhibition center. Leasing terms are negotiated and public contracting is carried out in parallel for the purchase or lease of gas tanks, the installation of an oxygen system and the supply of various equipment required for a medical institution. These contracts will not be activated until they are needed, but oxygen tanks may be built in advance or redirected to another hospital.
The Vilnius City Municipality is already receiving offers from current or former doctors; they would like to help if a temporary hospital opens.
Personal and medical protective equipment and reserve
As part of the urgent installation of “combat” units, almost 100 institutions were contacted last week on behalf of the director of the municipal administration, requesting loans ranging from functional and resuscitation beds and oxygen concentrators to tablets for communication with relatives. Some of these tools have already received gifts.
The Vilnius City Council’s reserve of personal protective equipment for doctors is sufficient for this year and is constantly being replenished. The municipality has not yet received any information about the state reserve.
Problems with COVID-19 cases in the education system
For the first time, the municipality is receiving questions from students’ parents about why the National Public Health Center (NVSC) is not immediately reporting COVID-19 cases and the necessary self-isolation in the classroom. Therefore, this duty of the NVSC, consultations in such cases should be carried out by the Vilnius Public Health Office.
In response to complaints about information delays, the Vilnius City Municipality analyzed the system applied by the NVSC to collect and report contacts with the sick, found duplication of work, making it difficult to promptly inform all patients. residents at risk. The municipality submitted proposals to the NVSC on how to change this system.
COVID-19 test
At the mobile point V. Gerulaičio str. You can study 1 per day in 1100 people. Last week, when the Health Ministry asked to ensure that people requesting mobile points were screened within 24 hours, the Vilnius Public Health Office planned to increase this number to 1,300, but no further change is needed yet: there were 200 vacancies at the Vilnius mobile point on Monday morning. .
Working with data
Vilnius is updating the COVID-19 statistics page, where there will be more information in real time on the number of patients hospitalized in municipal hospitals: www.karantinas.lt/esoc.
From now on, the municipality will constantly report on developments in the management of the coronavirus pandemic in Vilnius.
Photo: Saulius Žiūros
