Politicians see an opportunity to have a lighter summer, but warn: everything will depend on our decisions

How Delphi said Antanas Matulas, chairman of the Seimas Health Affairs Committee (SRK), the public could expect a lighter summer if mass vaccination could begin by then.

“We just realized that we would have a slightly lighter spring. That we will have much lighter and better in summer is, in my opinion, a fact, but for that we need to control morbidity, stop mortality and effectively vaccinate not only risk groups but society as a whole. If we can vaccinate a large part of society, the summer must be good ”, said A. Matulas.

Former Health Minister Aurelijus Veryga also agreed with this view.

“I would very much like to hope that at least the summer is freer.” Of course, there are all kinds of “buts.” It will all depend on the success of the vaccine manufacturers, and others, not just Pfizer or Moderna, how they will be manufactured, how they will be vaccinated, how many people will be vaccinated, and how many people will be vaccinated. The success of the internal opening will largely depend on this. To be sure, a critical mass of the population, about 70 percent, must be vaccinated. populations ”, emphasized A. Veryga.

About Delphi The Member of Parliament, SRK Member Jurgita Sejonienė, also spoke.

“It will depend on the goodwill of the people and how soon they want to get out of the situation themselves,” said the Seimas member.

There are many problems in the health system.

Although once the vaccines reach the country, we can already be happy to have a weapon in the fight against the pandemic, Mindaugas Puidokas, president of the Seimas Temporary Group on the Provision and Availability of Health Services during the COVID-19 Pandemic, points out that it is necessary to address sensitive issues in the health system.

According to him, there is an increase in the mortality of the population from various other diseases.

“People are not receiving the services they need due to the employment of medical institutions, the pandemic, COVID-19 and as a result we have significantly damaged health and, as we can see from the statistics, many deaths.” – said M. Puidokas.

As a result, the parliamentarian said, it is necessary to vaccinate all doctors as soon as possible, so that they themselves do not get sick or isolate themselves once they have acquired immunity.

Temporary group president Seimas also said there was a shortage of volunteers in the regions.

A. Matulas also spoke about the possibility of other employees taking over some functions of the medical staff.

“I, as a graduate of the medical profession, if there is such a need, I will have the opportunity to get vaccinated, I will certainly go and be able to fully perform the functions of a community nurse, a nurse. Ideally, I can allow the medications and droplets to build up. The infectious diseases law allows doctors of other specialties to do some things during an epidemic, ”said the politician.

MPs also emphasized the need to ensure that emergency medical care is available for people who do not have COVID-19 in so-called support hospitals.

Hospitals in the regions face difficulties in separating patient flows

“The problem is that the vast majority of treatment facilities were built during the Soviet era, and as a result, small facilities … do not have the ability to differentiate between COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 flows, which increases the risk of infection in those facilities, “said Puidok.

The former Minister of Health also agreed that such a problem exists. According to A. Veryga, small medical institutions, although they have several exits, are often used for evacuation or fire safety.

“Indeed, yes, but they were never designed for that, designed as infectious disease hospitals, never designed for that purpose. (…) If there is an elevator and a person cannot move by himself, there is already a problem in separating the flows, there is a problem in making them so that they do not mix so that people can communicate in a clean area and not contaminated. There is such a problem, but it has occurred naturally, “said A. Veryga.

For his part, A. Matulas, president of SRK, affirmed that this problem can be solved by closing separate rooms of regional hospitals or establishing special rooms for patients with coronavirus. However, the parliamentarian stressed, we can be happy to have a bed reservation in Lithuania.

“There are such solutions, the funds are provided for that, the ministry promises to reimburse the costs of installing oxygen rooms, which many hospitals are now doing.” We should rejoice that we did not allow and that President Dalia Grybauskaitė vetoed the law according to which the previous government wanted to destroy practically all the hospitals in the regions and that today we have an intact health system, “said A. Matulas.

In his opinion, the establishment of new temporary hospitals will probably not be necessary.

“In my opinion, it will not be necessary to install hospitals in warehouses, stadiums, sports halls. “How salvation is the perception of people, help, not going to the family during the holidays; now we can express our love for our neighbor not by driving and visiting, but on the contrary, being alone in the circle of a family”, pointed out the parliamentarian.

At that time, J. Sejonienė stated that medical institutions located not only in regions but also in cities are not well adapted for the treatment of infectious patients.

“There was talk of a super hospital. However, if there is an opportunity to build it in some way, I would suggest that it be built in such a way that, if necessary, it can be adapted for the treatment of infectious diseases, “said the doctor.

The pandemic highlighted psychological health problems, problems of access to aid.

Politicians also noted that during the pandemic, the population’s psychological health deteriorated dramatically and a shortage of mental health physicians re-emerged.

“In the event of a pandemic, there are many problems with public psychological health. “The impact on people’s mental health due to such atypical events that they experience (…) is significant”, admitted M. Puidokas.

J. Sejonienė also spoke about this issue.

“Mental help has always been a painful place for the Lithuanian health system. There is a lack of more accessible services for staff, especially psychiatrists. That is indeed the case, and the pandemic has only highlighted it, “said the parliamentarian.

According to A. Matul, necessary mental health care is not provided to all who need it. This problem, reported A. Matulas, will also be discussed at the meetings of the Health Affairs Commission.

“It just came to our attention then. The mental health not only of doctors, but of the whole society is strained,” said the head of the committee.

Citizens are urged not to trust misinformation and politicians to focus

All politicians interviewed noted the importance of human conscience in managing the pandemic.

According to A. Matul, it is necessary that as many people as possible trust the vaccine and get vaccinated.

“I urge people to realize that there is no other way to stop the increase in morbidity, the number of deaths, in principle, we do not have. (…) We must not doubt. There is no other way to control this situation, be it an absolute curfew, which will last a long time, or a vaccine to these measures, and then there is a way to control it with the least economic, psychological consequences (pandemic – aut.p. ) “, said the president of the Health Committee.

Speaking of this, Mr. Puidokas also emphasized that politicians must be united to urge the population to become aware.

“My vision is that all political forces should focus on such conditions, not find a way to fight. This is not the usual situation where it is possible to play the ruling majority and the opposition. There must be absolute unity, the maturity of the attitude of politicians towards the people is demonstrated, ”said M. Puidokas.

For his part, J. Sejonienė said that the population feels the pandemic fatigue, but, the Seimas deputy stressed, control the spread of disinformation on the Internet.

“I always emphasize that the disseminators of conspiracy theories and misinformation also have a very large detrimental effect. This must be controlled proactively, proactively. That work is being done by the services, but it must be more active. We know that many conspiracy groups on the Internet have been removed and blocked, but those activities should be more active, because we see that it is really spreading like a virus, ”added J. Sejonienė.