Emergency measures prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic
Romanian authorities take emergency measures to fight the pandemic which overwhelms the health system.
Daniela Budu, 05.10.2021, 14:00
Romania is almost at the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic. The number of new infections, of people who need hospital treatment and intensive care is going up at an alarming pace. Almost all 1,500 intensive care beds in hospitals across the country have been occupied. There are almost twice as many patients in critical condition as a week ago, while the death toll is also high. The huge pressure on the medical system prompted authorities to suspend, for 30 days, surgeries and hospitalization of non-Covid patients who are not emergencies.
The head of the Department for Emergencies, Raed Arafat explains the decision: “It is one of the solutions applied in many countries when the situation became critical and the pandemic wave was very serious, such as the one we now experience. So we had to issue an order valid for 30 days, according to which medical unit managers take measures to suspend hospitalization for surgeries and other treatments and investigations for cases that are not emergencies. ”
Raed Arafat said that the managers of medical units will thus have more staff to treat Covid patients. Also, more interns will be working in the emergency department and hospitals with insufficient staff will work in 12-hour shifts. Raed Arafat has said he hopes the new rules will be observed so that things are under control. He has also said that lockdown for the capital Bucharest, which has the highest number of new infections, has not been considered as it would have a major impact.
Beatrice Mahler, manager of the Marius Nasta Institute of Infectious Diseases in Bucharest, said on Radio Romania that the current situation is unprecedented: “This pandemic wave is different from the previous ones, in terms of number of infections and gravity of the cases that need intensive care. Unfortunately, almost all patients in intensive care need intubation. There is not known treatment for this disease. The only effective treatment is the one aimed to prevent the infection, and that is the vaccine. ”
The European Medicine Agency approved, on Monday, a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for people aged over 18, to be injected at least six months after the second dose. In the context of a serious health situation in Romania, vaccination with the third dose started in the country last week. (EE)
