The COVID-19 epidemic in Poland is gaining momentum. In the last few communications, the Ministry of Health has reported over 1000 new infections per day. There is a growing number of people who require hospitalization and those whose condition is severe enough to require respirators. Are hospitals ready to accept more COVID-19 patients? Theoretically yes, practically – it depends.
- In January, the Ministry of Health informed that we have over 2 in Poland. beds in infectious wards and we are prepared for the coming epidemic. A few months later, 2035 beds are already occupied, but MZ reassures that their total number has increased by over 6.
- «Certainly, there will be plenty of beds in Poland and there is no shortage of them. If we see that there are some problems somewhere, the decision is made on the part of the voivodes to prepare new beds for COVID patients »- said the spokesman of the Ministry of Health
- According to the data from the Hospital Information System, in several provinces there are few or no vacancies in infectious diseases wards. There are -4 of them in the hospital in Puławy, and there is not a single one in the entire Mazowieckie Voivodeship. How does this data relate to reality?
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List of infectious hospitals in Poland
When we asked the Ministry of Health in January if we were prepared for an epidemic and how many beds in infectious wards we had, the spokesman for the ministry, Wojciech Andrusiewicz, stated that there are a total of 85 medical entities operating in the country with infectious wards, with over 2 thousand beds.
As the epidemic developed, the situation changed dynamically. In recent weeks, as the number of new infected people has started to exceed 1000 a day, the number of people hospitalized and those in need of a ventilator has increased, and questions have arisen again as to whether we are ready for the additional burden on hospitals.
According to data we received from the Ministry of Health, the number of occupied COVID-19 beds is 2305 (as of September 28). At the same time, the Ministry of Health pointed out that we have a total of over 6,3 thousand. beds.
– We will increase this buffer in provinces where there have been a lot of infections recently. We will inform you about it in the coming days, because here decisions of voivodes will be issued.
Regarding the availability of ventilators for COVID-19 patients, there are currently over 800, which the ministry considers a significant back-up.
– As of September 28, 130 ventilators for COVID-19 patients were seized in Poland. The total number of respirators in all hospitals in Poland is over 11.
«Certainly, there will be plenty of beds in Poland and there is no shortage of them. If we see that there are some problems somewhere, the decision is made on the part of the voivodes to prepare new beds for COVID patients »- said the spokesman of the Ministry of Health at a press briefing.
How do the ministry’s assurances relate to reality? Judging by the doctors’ voices, it is different.
See also:
- Not only records of infections. There are also more people in quarantine
- Dr. Marek Posobkiewicz: at least several hundred thousand are infected
- Minister Waldemar Kraska on the increase in infections: they result from our activity
There are no beds, patients are sent to other cities
«I called Łuków about the patient. They have three beds left »- wrote Jakub Kosikowski, a clinical oncology resident who is currently treating patients suffering from COVID-26, on 19 September.
According to the data available in the Information System on Hospitals for the Lubelskie Voivodeship, there are currently no beds for COVID-19 patients in infectious diseases departments. In the Healthcare Complex in Biłgoraj, on September 28, there were -2 vacancies, in the Independent Public Healthcare Center in Puławy, which until recently was a similar hospital, on September 28, there were -4 vacancies. The greatest number, as many as 10 vacant infectious disease beds, was in the Provincial Specialist Hospital in Biała Podlaska. 3 vacancies were declared by the Independent Public Healthcare Unit in Tomaszów Lubelski. There were zero vacancies in the Independent Public Provincial Specialist Hospital in Chełm and the Independent Public Clinical Hospital No. 1 in Lublin.
The situation of Lublin was explained in Dziennik Wschodni, by Lech Sprawka, the Lublin voivode.
– There are 320 covid beds in the Lubelskie Voivodeship for patients with confirmed coronavirus infection. If you deduct the hospital in Puławy and the Neuropsychiatric Hospital in Lublin, which do not hospitalize only patients with SARS-CoV-2, there are 211 such places. At the moment, there are approx. 150 people hospitalized, which means that we have approx. 60 infectious beds available. – explained the voivode.
Why are these vacancies not visible in the system? According to the Lublin voivode, second-level hospitals have separate covid beds not only in infectious wards, but also in other wards.
– For example, in the hospital in Tomaszów Lubelski, there are actually no beds available in the infectious diseases ward, but there are still 15 such places available in the entire hospital. At this point, any hospital in the province is able to admit such patients. The exception is the clinical hospital No. 1 in Lublin, where all infectious places are occupied – he added in an interview with “Dziennik Wschodni” Sprawka.
Most voivodships, similarly to the Lubelskie Voivodship, run a publicly available information system on hospital beds in given wards. The information is updated at least once a day. However, it is in vain to look for actual information about the availability of beds for COVID-19 patients. You can view the lists of infectious wards, which show that, for example, in the Mazowieckie voivodship, there are currently no beds available in infectious wards for adults.
In the Silesian Voivodeship, we have 3 beds (in the Specialist Hospital No. 1 in Bytom), and in Łódź – 16 vacancies – 14 of which in the Provincial Specialist Hospital. Dr. Władysław Biegański and 2 at the County Hospital in Radomsko. Meanwhile, the voivode of Łódź states that out of 350 places in 5 facilities with level II security, 134 beds are vacant – 63 in Zgierz, 50 in Łódź, 3 in Radomsko and 18 in Tomaszów. “Out of 143 respirator places, 99 are free,” adds the voivode.
Dr. Paweł Grzesiowski replied to the voivode’s twitt: “Mr. Governor, tomorrow please call these hospitals and try to place the patient there. Today, a patient from the province Lodzki landed in Poznań. »
A spokeswoman for the Łódź branch of the National Health Fund, Anna Leder, explained in an interview with “Bezprawnik” that in practice there are beds available for COVID-19 patients in the Łódź Province, but the system “does not see them”, because it is not adapted to the current situation. Only one observation can be made: the epidemic in Poland has been going on since March. So far, it has not been possible to develop a system that would show how many free beds are real and the availability of ventilators for COVID-19 patients.
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