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Beatrice Mahler, manager of the “Marius Nasta” Pneumoftiziology Institute in Bucharest, says that there is no improvement in the COVID epidemic, even in recent days, things are worse, and in the hospital that she directs there is a need for several units of intensive care. “We will have very high mortality figures for this month and, if things continue in this direction, December will also be a month in which we will cry a lot,” Beatrice Mahler warned Digi24 on Tuesday night.
„It is a situation that seems to suffocate us every day, it is a corset that we seem to have gotten into and we can no longer find solutions.“Confessed the doctor.
“Things are at least as serious, maybe even worse, I would say, in the last few days, because right now the places in the ward are occupied in the first minutes after the patient’s discharge. Basically, we accept patients that we know will come – requested by the DSP for serious hospitalization – to the places of patients who will be discharged and patients who come from home with an altered general condition are really problematic for us to find a place for them. “Explained Beatrice Mahler.
“The problem is that now in the COVID section things are extremely delicate. At this time we have increased the capacity of the room and yet all beds are also ordered. we do not know, every night, where we will find solutions for the patients who will come during the night. The guard and the situation are extremely difficult “said the manager of the Institute “Marius Nasta”.
Patients with a negative initial test become positive a few days after admission.
He reported that patients who come home with other types of pathologies, due to intense community transmission, become positive after hospitalization, after a few days, even if they are initially hospitalized with a negative test. The culprit is intense community transmission, which also affects medical personnel.
“It is an intense community transmission and this community transmission, in addition to the patient, we also feel it in the medical personnel, because here we also have cases of disease, but not by transmission in the hospital. There are sick families and it is normal for people who work in health and live in these families to have health problems. Unfortunately, they hit us in many directions and it is a difficult, difficult time and I do not see it going in a positive direction, favorable for our patients.Beatrice Mahler said.
Patients who no longer have space for intensive care
The manager of the Nasta Institute says that at the moment, the hospital has 60 COVID patients with severe forms hospitalized per ward, although a large part of them would need intensive care, but there are no places available.
“We start with the ventilation methods that we have in the room and I tell you honestly that every moment we evaluate patients in intensive care and the patient who needs it most receives a place in intensive care. Therefore, I can say with certainty that if we had more places in Intensive Care, the number of patients in intensive care would be much higher. We currently have 60 patients with severe forms in the plant, some of whom, to a large extent, could benefit from assistance in Intensive Care, where the level of evaluation and support is clearly different. But right now we are dealing with what we have and we are trying to do everything we can for our patients. It does not mean that they do not receive treatment, they are all cared for, but certainly things would be different if we had more beds in Intensive Care ”, revealed the doctor.
Mortality is increasing
“I am concerned, if I look at the daily figures, mortality, which is increasing and that we also see has increased to a worrying level, including hospitalized patients, which means that the forms that arrive are very late. , end up in very decompensated, severe forms and with high mortality. We will have very high mortality figures for this month and, if things continue in that direction, December will also be a month in which we will cry a lot ”, said Beatrice Mahler about the need for a quarantine of Bucharest.
Rapid antigen tests are required
Beatrice Mahler was also asked her thoughts on rapid antigen tests, which were initially rejected by authorities as unsafe. The manager believes that they are useful for a rapid diagnosis of patients, even if they must be confirmed later by the real-time PCR method.
“Rapid antigen tests should be used and they should be included in the methodology to diagnose SARS-CoV-2 infection. And in the hospital, when we have a symptomatic patient, with symptoms suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 infection, with positive antigen , is confirmed by the real-time PCR method. It would be a real aid for the diagnosis that we want to make quickly, for the isolation of cases, for the management of mildly symptomatic cases and at the end, and for the management of patients that they can benefit from this diagnosis with the ambulance service knocking on their door. and that they know how to direct them to a hospital COVID or non-COVID. It is a real help that we should all take advantage of and I am convinced that we would get good results “, said Beatrice Mahler .
He added that the hospital he runs has bought antigen tests since October, and in patients who had a suggestive COVID clinic, the tests came back positive, the results were later confirmed by the real-time PCR test.
Editor: Luana Pavaluca
