Chairman of the Health Committee: I see two paths, one of which is absolute quarantine

The interim government decided to extend the quarantine until the new year and tighten some of its conditions. Residents are also advised to leave home only for important reasons. President Gitanas Nausėda assured that such measures were not enough.

The chairman of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee, the conservative Antanas Matulas, took a similar position. According to him, given the epidemiological situation, there are two routes, one of which is absolute quarantine.

– You are the president of the Health Commission, how do you assess the restrictions that have been introduced, are they sufficient?

– The situation is twofold. Last Wednesday in committee we explained the real situation in Lithuanian medical institutions. During the six hours that the meeting lasted, we spoke with representatives of all municipalities and representatives of municipal medical institutions.

It turns out there are two paths. First, apply stricter measures before Christmas, such as a total quarantine, since the spread is enormous and in some areas the situation is almost unmanageable. The second way is to apply the existing restrictions, although some of them, such as allowing parking every five places, are completely illogical. But then you should pay attention to the health facilities. Nobody talks about what happens in health facilities.

– What did your interviews with representatives of municipal medical institutions show? What is the real situation in medical institutions?

– If there are no additional measures in the health system, additional funds, then the health system will collapse within a month. At the beginning of the first wave of the pandemic, an additional € 500 million was promised to the health system. euros. Instead of giving this money, a health insurance reserve is released.

The funds were accumulated in the reserve for compulsory medical insurance. If they had been used rationally, strengthening the health system, encouraging workers, providing resources, equipping oxygen rooms and allocating the promised additional funds, the situation would have been different.

More than 400 million have already been released from the reserve. euros. The state gave somewhere in the health system 100 million. euros. We have a situation where there is a delay in the money from the Health Insurance Funds for the settlement of accounts with the employees because their budget is not collected. Instead of helping medical facilities, payments start to fall behind.

The institutions that contribute to the treatment of the coronavirus do not receive anything from the reserve. The law that the institutions must provide for themselves is spent, but the money is not delivered. Each institution buys separately, so the prices of the instruments are increasing. Employees do not receive cash incentives.

Yes, the government has decided that the staff of a department can be transferred to a department that works with people with coronavirus. But this is not the Soviet era, the employee can not be forced, not that age. The government mandates that supplements be paid for from its own funds, but medical institutions no longer have those funds.

– Are treatment facilities not ready to treat COVID-19 patients?

– The institutions, about 20 hospitals, are now equipped with oxygen rooms, but do not have generators. The state funded the installation of oxygen rooms in just three hospitals during the summer. Now is the time to fund those hospitals.

Representatives of medical institutions say they will contribute to the treatment of COVID-19, they are ready to expand, but they need help. Incentives are needed to adapt the environment to the establishment of neighborhoods.

We have a situation where a lot of mistakes have been made. But now we have to speak not of errors. We need to act now. This requires the introduction of an absolute quarantine of two to three weeks or intensified coordination and financing to strengthen the health system. Yes, as it is, it cannot continue.

– What do you think should be done differently?

– The monitoring of cases should be transferred to the municipal units of the Public Health Center. The municipalities have public health offices, where case monitoring should be strengthened. Case tracking needs to be transferred more to municipal units. There, people get to know each other, it is easier to track cases.

You need to stop blaming people. People are fed up with Aurelius Veryga’s moralizing. You have to ask people, they need to keep repeating information. This is the only way to talk to people. The main mistake of the outgoing government is not communicating, not listening and not listening. That state governance cannot continue.

– Still, do you emphasize that the main focus should now be on the health system?

– Like I said, there are two ways. One is the absolute quarantine. Another is to take the path of eliminating illogical decisions and perhaps even closing out-of-the-box stores, but then we have to work differently with municipalities and provide additional funds for the health system.

Without additional resources, the health system cannot overcome this pandemic. If this continues, there will be no one to work and deal with for two weeks.