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Cantons must create space for corona patients in their hospitals. According to the Federal Council, not everyone is equally committed. He has his look particularly on Zurich.
As in the first wave: due to Corona, individual hospitals and cantons are reaching capacity limits.
Photo: Anthony Anex (Keystone)
Just a few days ago, Federal Councilor Alain Berset was calm. When asked whether intensive care units in Swiss hospitals could withstand the second corona wave, he replied in an interview with the NZZ: “If we at the Federal Council were convinced that Swiss hospitals would be overloaded in ten days, we would still have it, stricter measures were decided. “Both the scientific working group and a representative of the army, which is coordinating the registry of hospital capacities at the Swiss level, had previously warned against this scenario.
Meanwhile, the Health Minister has lost his composure. At the press conference from the Federal Council on Wednesday, Berset was outraged that some of the cantons were still not carrying out urgent medical interventions. “There are cantons that still have a complete program of electoral interventions. It is difficult to understand that they continue as if nothing had happened. Berset called for more solidarity and coordination between the cantons.
Even before the press conference, the Federal Council had written a letter to all the cantons together with the conference of health directors. Cantons are informed that it is their duty to ensure sufficient treatment capacity for Corona patients and also referred to the Crown regulation. As the spokesperson for the Conference of Health Directors (GDK) explains, this warning does not affect all cantons. In the cantons of western Switzerland, non-urgent interventions have largely stopped, even in private hospitals. Other cantons such as Bern, the two Basles or that of Central Switzerland gradually restricted non-urgent interventions.
Zurich, of all places, is not mentioned as a positive example by the GDK spokesperson. The canton has by far the largest hospital capacity in Switzerland. There are 328 places in intensive care units in Zurich. 220 were occupied on Wednesday, 52 by corona patients. A comparison with figures from a week ago shows that, so far, Zurich has mainly been reducing bookings to be able to accept corona patients. The number of patients without a crown in intensive care units has only slightly decreased. A week ago, 200 places were occupied, with 20 corona patients.
Zurich accepts patients from other cantons
Zurich health director Natalie Rickli (SVP) declined to comment on Bern’s request on Wednesday. Until now, it had let hospitals provide the necessary capabilities in the second wave. All Zurich hospitals work closely together and transfer crown patients to each otherwhen a hospital is particularly stressed. So they have hardly had to cancel the planned operations. Individual hospitals have already admitted crown patients from other cantons. There are currently four crown patients from cantons Aargau and Schwyz in the intensive care unit at Klinik Hirslanden.
The Zurich University Hospital has so far not canceled elective interventions or treated corona patients outside the canton. Director Gregor Zünd announced, however, that one or two intensive care patients from Geneva would soon be admitted. The surgical program was also reduced slightly on Wednesday to make more staff available for intensive care units. Because the bottleneck is staff, not space. The university hospital can greatly increase the capacity of beds in 48 hours.
“I don’t think the hospitals will be full in five days.”
Across Switzerland, the number of intensive care beds briefly increased from just under 1,000 to around 1,600 during the first Corona wave in the spring. There are currently around 1,100. A third is still free. In Zurich, as in Bern and Basel-Stadt, the situation is slightly better than the Swiss average. Federal Councilor Berset described the situation as very tense, especially in western Switzerland. In some cantons, intensive care units were reaching their capacity limits. Corona patient hospitalizations will continue to increase in the coming days.
According to Berset, the measures decided by the Federal Council and the cantons are beginning to take effect. The curve flattened with new infections. However, a significant reduction in infections is necessary to prevent hospitals from becoming overloaded. On Tuesday, the Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) forecast that intensive care units would be fully used in five days. Both Berset and the BAG qualified this statement on Wednesday. “I don’t think we will be ready in five days,” the Federal Council said.
