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According to information from our colleagues at VRT NWS and De Tijd, hospitals must now postpone day admissions to strengthen intensive care for a period of two weeks. In any case, this is indicated by a circular from the Hospital & Transport Surge Capacity Committee, the group of experts assisting the health sector in the health crisis. The committee is also asking hospitals to reopen closed beds in intensive care units.
The letter, distributed to all hospitals in the country this Tuesday evening, specifies the types of interventions concerned by this postponement. There are three types: deferred operations that require intensive care, conventional hospitalizations that do not require intensive care, and day surgery operations that do not require intensive care. Only life-saving operations and therapies can continue, the commission specifies in the letter. These are, for example, chemotherapy and dialysis.
The staff thus released can be assigned to the treatment of patients who, affected by the coronavirus, are treated in the intensive care units.
Currently, 3,750 Covid patients are treated in hospital, including 780 in intensive care. “By December 6, we should exceed 900 Covid patients in intensive care. Without a turnaround, it will even be 1,000 Covid patients in intensive care by December 10,” worries the Committee.
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