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Medical facilities have not repeated for some time that beds are not a problem and can be found as needed. However, there is no point in doing this if there is no one to take care of the patients.
Experts who assess the situation more broadly point out that until new decisions are made about asymptomatic physicians, critical situations in which there will be no patients to treat must be continually addressed.
Suggest considering isolation arrangements
According to the director of the Center for Communicable Diseases and AIDS, Professor Saulius Čaplinskas, as the experience of other countries shows, one of the measures that is already delayed in Lithuania are the relevant self-isolation rules for doctors.
“This is already the case in other parts of the world, changing so that both the doctors who have only had contact with another colleague who has treated a COVID-19 patient and the doctor who has treated him covidin patient who would not have to be in solitary confinement for so long and could not provide medical care, ”he said.
According to him, in this case we will always have a shortage of personnel.
“Since the preparation of doctors takes a long time, it is necessary to review the rules of self-isolation of doctors, first of all, as soon as possible,” said S. Čaplinskas.
It would be very considerate if scientists agreed
Acting Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga also commented on considerations to allow doctors with asymptomatic infectious diseases to work with COVID-19 patients.
He argued that such a possibility would be considered, but must be supported by scientists.
“Only if the scientists make it clear that there is no risk for the specialist to work, (…) or the patient. If we receive such a recommendation from specialists, of course we will consider it, ”said A. Veryga.
He also argued that such an opportunity would only be available to those doctors who agreed to do it themselves.
“It’s just their volunteering and they could go to work. But as I said, we have not received such clear evaluations and recommendations from scientists as to whether they could work or not, because a similar question has been asked about doctors who are already sick, if they could work and not be isolated if they had a contact high risk. “He added.
Medical representative: many nuances remain
Živilė Gudlevičienė, Chairperson of the Board of the Lithuanian Medical Movement (LMS), also agreed that there would be logic in such proposals.
“I think there will be different opinions on this issue in the medical community, because infection can also occur from an asymptomatic virus carrier. On the other hand, if we think that such a doctor could work, we must pay attention to protective measures and their strengthening.
So simple masks and gloves will not be enough. Knowing that there has been contact and perhaps you are an asymptomatic physician, then a higher level of protection would be needed. This is especially important for the protection of patients, ”said the medical representative.
However, the situation is different in COVID-19 treatment units. Here, according to the interlocutor, such a practice would certainly be possible, since a high level of protection is also used.
“It just came to our knowledge then not covidian a section where asymptomatic patients also attend. And if we say that a doctor can continue to work even after contacting a colleague who is known to be infected with COVID-19, how will we treat these patients? Because the work doesn’t really stop, so there are many nuances in this place, “he said.
It is difficult to ensure logistics.
According to the head of the Center for Infectious Diseases of Clinicas Santara prof. Ligita Jančorienė, this topic is not really easy and that is why there has been a lot of discussion in the expert group recently.
“It has been observed that only in very exceptionally extreme conditions, such as during the first wave in Italy, when there was a major problem with hospital beds and doctors, was that decision made.
But Italy stood out with high medical morbidity. So this is a question that is not easy to answer. If all work were limited to a COVID-19 patient who is approached with full protection, neither the doctor himself represents a risk to the patient or vice versa. But after all, there are people who come to work, get dressed and there are also bathrooms, and here it would no longer be possible to ensure complete protection, ”he said.
Introducing it, Estela Tamašauskienė, Head of the Department of Infectious Diseases at LSMU Kaunas Hospital, added that this issue was also being discussed at her hospital.
But, as he emphasized, the idea has been abandoned until now, it is understandable that it is very difficult to organize, it is necessary to provide separate entrances, etc.
Infected according to disease
At the same time, S. Čaplinskas pointed out that so far a fundamental mistake has been made regarding the COVID-19 infection.
“If a person is exposed to the RNA of the virus, it means that the person has been exposed to the virus, that they are potentially infected and possibly shed the virus, and that they can infect another person. Possibly, but not necessarily.
When a person is infected and it is not clear whether he will develop clinical phenomena or not, it is necessary to find out who is sick. We identify an infected and sick person.
How many are infected and how many are sick in Lithuania today? If infected people are identified as sick, the wrong message is automatically sent to people ”, emphasized the interlocutor.
Representative of LMS Ž. Gudlevičienė also agreed that research results are still lacking to clarify what is asymptomatic, whether it is contagious or not, and why we detect virus particles in the body by PCR, but it is no longer contagious.
Data on the dead are also missing
He stressed that there was also a lack of more detailed information for the public about COVID-19 deaths in terms of handling the pandemic.
Although there is now a separate line in the statistics for those who have died from coronavirus and are only infected with it, there are no details yet.
“What his exact age is, chronic diseases, we don’t know. If that were clear, then perhaps we would see accordingly what we know from the experience of other countries that there is a particular need to protect a certain category of people who are in high risk.
The further the doctors know, the more they know how to treat complications, but that information would provide more knowledge, in addition to preventing serious complications, including death, “said the virologist.
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