Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – Moment Singapore is learning to coexist with Covid-19, there is an explosion of cases of infection and death. Wednesday (13/10/2021) the Lion Country reported 3,190 new cases of corona infection accompanied by nine deaths.
As this happens, health workers in Singapore are increasingly unable to see the end of the pandemic. Because they have to work extra to treat Covid-19 patients.
“The health care system is maximally strained now and will continue to be,” said an anonymous junior doctor, who works at a public hospital in Singapore. Channel News Asia (CNA).
He said his hospital had seen patient admissions double since last week. “This will only end once the numbers drop but who knows when this will happen?” he added.
The surge in infection cases over the past two weeks has put significant pressure on the country’s healthcare system. Waiting times and hospital bed occupancy rates have soared.
New wards opened almost daily for the last few months. This was conveyed by health workers from the National Center for Infectious Diseases (NCID) and hospitals such as Singapore General Hospital and Changi General Hospital.
“I’ve had a situation where the ward opened at around 9pm, and by 10pm there were already more than 10 patients coming at once, waiting for me to see them… I’ve never had such a miserable call in my entire medical life,” he said. one of the medics from NCID.
“Wards are designed for infectious diseases … it should be one patient isolated in one room. So we are trying to accommodate this by opening a new ward.”
As a result of patients coming non-stop, two or even three patients are now forced to be placed in one room.
“I haven’t seen daylight in a long time,” said a junior doctor in Singapore.
Among hospitals tracked by the Ministry of Health (MOH), the latest figures show that daily bed occupancy rates ranged from 75% to nearly 95% from September 26 to October 2.
“This puts pressure on our resources because while you can open more beds to accommodate more patients, you also need more nurses and doctors to treat them,” said another health worker at Changi General Hospital.
“For a nurse to treat one patient in the ICU is not easy. So sometimes there are two nurses for one patient, and they help each other,” he said, adding that junior doctors were also on duty to help.
The full treatment room is not accompanied by the number of workers. The number of nurses in 2020 in Singapore fell for the first time in at least 15 years.
The Singapore Nursing Council’s annual report said there were 42,096 nurses in 2020, a decrease of 572 people from the previous year 2019.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) said it would bring in more of the workforce by reaching out to those registered with the Singapore Healthcare Corps, as well as nurses who are registered on the nursing board but not in active practice.
So far, about 900 health workers have agreed to the MOH call. Now gradually he will be referred to a general hospital to be adjusted to the vacant position.
Now Singapore has recorded a total number of Covid-19 cases since the pandemic struck, reaching 135,395 cases with 192 deaths.
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