The coronavirus pandemic threatens to collapse the Polish health system

According to the German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle, a record number of more than 20,000 cases of chorovirus was registered in Poland on October 29.

The epidemiologist and government adviser Andrzej Horban immediately began sounding the alarms.

He warned that at this rate, the country’s health system would soon reach its limit.

“If the growth of new infections remains at current levels, there will be no way out and we will have to shut down,” Hortert warned. “Our system is capable of receiving up to 30,000 COVID-19 patients who can receive the best medical care.”

Our system is capable of receiving up to 30,000 COVID-19 patients who can receive the best medical care.

According to the epidemiologist, if there were more patients, it could destroy the Polish health system.

Beds fill up quickly

An article published on the Deutsche Welle website claims that the Polish government has committed to rapidly providing 35,000 resuscitation and intensive care beds for coronavirus patients.

There are currently 22,500 beds of this type in the country.

Of these, almost 15,000 are employed. And around 700 COVID-19 patients are still hospitalized every day.

Of the 11,000 lung ventilators in Poland, 1,700 were reserved for coronavirus patients. Currently 1,200 of them are already in use.

Just a month ago, Polish hospitals had to receive 2,400 COVID-19 patients and only 140 of them were treated with artificial lung ventilators.

Just a month ago, Polish hospitals had to receive 2,400 patients with COVID-19 and only 140 of them were treated with artificial lung ventilators.

If the spread of the infection remains at current levels, the hospitals will be fully operational in about two weeks.

Dramatic situation in hospitals

One of the biggest problems in Poland now is the shortage of medical personnel. Although this was a hot topic even before the pandemic, the Deutsche Welle publication said.

Of the 4,000 doctors trained in Poland each year, several hundred go abroad to work because they do not want to work in the country’s health system, which is chronically underfunded.

Paramedics and patients feel the painful effects of the physician shortage.

There are many reports in the Polish media where people, despite life-threatening health problems, do not receive help because COVID-19 patients have priority access to hospitals.

Recorded conversations that paramedics leaked to broadcaster TVN24 revealed how they were sent back and forth between the four hospitals for several hours for a patient.

A desperate team of ambulances in the admissions department of one of Warsaw’s largest hospitals finally asked if they should drop the patient at the door and even called the police.

However, even officials were unable to force doctors to accept the patient – the intensive care unit was full of COVID-19 patients, according to Deutsche Welle.

The story of the dramatic situation at the hospital on Facebook was posted by Tomasz Siegel, head of the department of anesthesiology.

Appointed director of medicine at the hospital, he left office just a week later because it seemed impossible to vacate 38 beds in the resuscitation and intensive care unit in a few days, according to the health minister.

“Where to transfer the patients who are now being treated there? The minister does not tell me because there is no place anywhere, ”Tiegel wrote.

Where to transfer patients now in treatment there? The minister does not tell me because there is no place anywhere.

According to him, it took time, staff and money to free the resuscitation and intensive care units.

“The official statistics were ‘fiction’. The rulers created the administrative orders only” to hold a press conference and wash the blood of those who die before our eyes and who will continue to die because they do not receive help, “said the doctor.

Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said Thursday at a press conference at the National Stadium in Warsaw, where the open-air hospital is located, that “we are preparing them for a very serious scenario.”

Up to 10,000 COVID-19 patients will be able to be treated in such temporary hospitals, which are now being built throughout Poland.

However, it is not clear who will supervise them.

An article on the Deutsche Welle website says that for this reason, the Polish parliament has just approved new financial incentives for doctors and nurses.

Those who wish to work on the front lines of COVID-19 would benefit considerably. Doctors, for example, will earn double their base salary.

Furthermore, they will be partially exempt from liability when treating COVID-19 patients.