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Now things get very difficult in Swiss hospitals. At the Zurich University Hospital there was exactly one free bed in the intensive care unit on Sunday morning. Due to the renewed increase in crown numbers, the situation is getting worse. Last week, five university hospitals raised the alarm in a joint letter to Health Minister Alain Berset (48).
Now it is clear: in ten cantons there were no more free certified intensive care beds on Tuesday afternoon. Andreas Stettbacher from the Coordinated Medical Service (KSD) explained this to the media. These are the cantons of Friborg, Geneva, Glarus, Graubünden, Solothurn, Ticino, Thurgau, Waadt, Wallis and Zug.
“Calls for help must be taken very seriously”
But there are big local differences, Stettbacher says. Of the 1,077 intensive care beds nationwide, 238 remain free. That corresponds to 22 percent. Y: The proportion of patients with corona is increasing in intensive care units. They currently represent 57 percent.
Inform Zurich hospitals: “Not only the elderly and the sick are in intensive care”(05:33)
“Calls for help from hospitals should be taken very seriously,” emphasizes Patrick Mathys of the Federal Office of Public Health (BAG). “The staff is on edge. It will not be able to provide this service in the long term. “
The number of patients will continue to increase
But it could get worse. As the number of cases is increasing, authorities expect a further increase in hospital admissions with a delay of 10 to 14 days. To reduce the pressure on the health system, measures are now needed that lead to a rapid decline in the number of cases.
It looks as dramatic as with acute care beds with acute beds: As of Tuesday, out of 22,132 beds in Switzerland, 5,455 were still free, or 25 percent. “We still have reservations, but we have to take care of them,” Stettbacher emphasized. If the number of infections is not reduced rapidly, there is a risk of overloading the healthcare system.
The numbers change every hour. Hospital staff are trying to create free capacities in intensive care units. Some patients can be transferred to acute rooms. Or other hospitals. Other patients die.
Corona patients need twice as many staff
One problem is the intensity of care for crown patients. This is twice as high as with other patients and needs twice as many staff, said representatives of the Zurich hospitals at a joint press conference.
There are also: 101 employees at University Hospital Zurich (USZ) are only in isolation or quarantine because of Corona. That’s one percent of the workforce. “When I look at the number of cases, I don’t see an end,” said director André Zemp of the Waid und Triemli city hospital. If this month-long marathon continues, you are concerned that the staff will leave. “Because they just don’t like it anymore.”
The director of the USZ, Gregor Zünd, therefore, cannot imagine how Switzerland can avoid a blockade.
