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Dr. Stella Dencheva PHOTO: Dima Maximova
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Acute shortage of nurses in the pulmonary hospital in Tarnovo, one cares for 60 patients
“Immediately, in a second, a lockdown should be announced, not with a delay of two or three days. The state should simply be closed for at least two weeks. I see that there is no such attitude, but it means that patients will start dying in the streets. ” The gloomy prognosis was made to “24 Chasa” by the head of the pulmonary hospital in Veliko Tarnovo, Dr. Stella Dencheva. In addition to encountering severe cases of COVID in the hospital on a daily basis, the doctor is one of two specialists who also serve the COVID area for the entire region. And he says the situation is extremely problematic, hospitals are on the brink and it will get worse.
The ward for COVID patients at Dr. Treyman Specialized Hospital is full and patients now have to be returned. “Today, we received patients in the places of the discharged. We agreed with two infected people, who came in a not so serious condition, to come tomorrow, because then we will discharge and two beds will be vacated,” commented Dr. Dencheva.
Pulmonary Hospital “Dr. Treiman” – Veliko Tarnovo PHOTO: Dima Maximova
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In this wave of infection, patients are very severe with serious complications, says the pulmonologist. “So far we have had patients with arterial thrombosis in the extremities, several with a stroke. This morning a patient with COVID came for hospitalization and had a stroke while she was still in the clinic. We had to move her to the district hospital for consultations because there are opportunities. where these patients can be comprehensively served. We do not have the opportunity to care for patients with neurological diseases, “said the doctor.
The pulmonary hospital, which escaped closure by attracting doctors with attractive salaries of BGN 4,000 each, now suffers from an acute shortage of nurses. Of the 19 needed to provide the wards, there are currently 5, along with the older nurse. This requires one nurse per shift to serve 20 co-patients, 10 patients with tuberculosis and 13 with other lung diseases in the “clean” sector.
“In the previous waves, when COVID rose, patients with lung diseases disappeared, but now this is not the case. There are a lot of patients and they are in a very serious condition. It turns out that in Veliko Tarnovo district there is no place to stay except with us “, explains the manager.
It is the heavy workload that makes the work of the nurses unattractive. “Their salaries are no less attractive, there is no nurse who leaves with less than BGN 2,000,” says Dr. Dencheva. And for this problem the head of the municipal health institution expects assistance from the mayor Daniel Panov, who is directly involved in the problem. Within days, the team will include two health care students from the Tarnovo branch of MU-Varna, who will be employed during their undergraduate internship.
Dr. Dencheva does not hide that there are several colleagues in the hospital who do not want to be vaccinated and have to do antigen tests every other day. “I can not force anyone, moreover, they are colleagues and are aware of the benefits and risks. I am a waxer and I think vaccines are the thing that saves a lot of headaches, because it is much easier and much cheaper to prevent than to cure a disease, especially with COVID, we don’t know how long the disease will last. “It’s unpredictable for every patient, and the cost of treatment is insane. The worst thing is that a lot of people get infected,” says Dr. Dencheva.
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