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It is the great stumbling block of the Corona crisis: in view of the persistently high number of cases, for how long will there be free intensive care beds in Swiss hospitals? When will the time come when doctors can no longer treat all patients?
The crown federal task force has been warning about the terror scenario for weeks. The Federal Office of Public Health (BAG) is also aware of the seriousness of the situation. In western Switzerland, beds are already scarce. Patients must be transferred to other hospitals.
Authorities add to the confusion
The answer to the question is even more troubling: do the authorities really have an overview of free beds in intensive care units? Because it shows: in front of the media, different numbers are mentioned over and over again. Sometimes there is talk of a total of 1,100 intensive care beds, sometimes it should be 1,400.
And until recently, other numbers could be found on the Responsible Coordinated Medical Service (KSD) website. On Tuesday, a total of 1,673 beds were listed, of which 1,162 are said to be occupied at the moment. These differences cannot be explained solely by the expansion of intensive care units.
“Collecting numbers is extremely difficult”
The confusing thing: the general national figures did not coincide with the number of beds broken down by canton either. They all report different numbers. The national table has now disappeared from the KSD website.
The printing of a jumble of numbers is not misleading. “The current situation is so volatile that it is extremely difficult to collect figures. We noticed it, ”says Daniel Reist of the Department of Defense with which the KSD is affiliated. Therefore, on Friday it was decided that the previous lists of intensive care beds would be temporarily removed from the website. Only the BAG should publish figures.
Issues with delivered numbers
Officially, the different bodies do not want to step on their feet. However, behind closed doors, federal officials vent their anger in the cantons and hospitals. These would again and again provide a wide variety of figures, making it impossible to get an up-to-date description of available intensive care beds.
The current bed numbers cannot yet be found on the BAG website. No response was received from the Federal Office on multiple requests. The authorities appear to have capitulated, at least for a short time, to the chaos of the numbers.
The survey would be quite important, as KSD itself writes: “The information collected supports the assessment of the situation at the federal level and allows a regional to national balance in the use of hospitals.”
The only thing that is clear at this point is that, although the number of cases is no longer increasing as strongly, the situation in intensive care units remains tense. On Monday alone, 536 new hospital admissions were reported over the past weekend.