Doctors in the corona wards warn: "We are in a multi-casualty incident, we have to make preferences" • "The coming period is expected to be particularly difficult, fear that the wave of morbidity has not yet reached its peak" •
Hospitals around the country are reporting difficulty in coping with the treatment load, emphasizing that the peak of morbidity in Corona may still be ahead of us.
"There is a price to pay for the load, but we are fighting tooth and nail, not giving up on anyone and working very hard," said Dr. Assaf Miller, director of the Corona Intensive Care Unit at Rambam, in an interview with Israel Today.
He said that due to the heavy workload, one nurse treats three patients instead of two - and in exceptional cases also four patients.
The "Brothers Tribe" ward at Rambam Hospital // Photo Archive: IDF Spokesman
Dr. Assaf Peretz, director of the corona department at Assuta Hospital in Ashdod, adds that "the current wave of patients is characterized by more difficult patients, a lower age range and faster infection.
The euphoria that followed the vaccines distracted public attention from the duty to continue to follow the guidelines.
The coming period is expected to be particularly difficult. "
In Jerusalem, due to the congestion in the corona wards in the city's hospitals, the Ministry of Health ordered half of the patients in the capital area to evacuate to the central area.
Prof. Dror Mevorach, director of the Internal Medicine Department B and the Corona Department at Hadassah Ein Kerem Hospital, told Israel Today: "There are many casualties in the incident and you make a preference. You can not access all the wounded. Sometimes there will be those who will not receive attention because of the congestion."
Dr. Ariel Rokach, director of the respiratory care unit at the medical center, also stressed: “The physical load is high because working with protection is difficult to work with, and there is also the risk at work.
We try to increase the teams as much as possible and always check ourselves. "
The director of Soroka Medical Center, Dr. Shlomi Kodesh, updated that due to the morbidity of the disease, the hospital has started accepting patients from other hospitals.
High morbidity in 50-year-olds
The Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon has announced that they will open another corona ward: "Corona B Intensive Care Unit".
According to Prof. Yaniv Scherer, director of the Barzilai Medical Center: "The hospital has treated the current wave of corona in hundreds of corona patients, and as part of our preparations we are returning to the activity of another corona intensive care unit."
Another ward was also opened at Hillel Yaffe Medical Center in Hadera.
"There has been an alarming increase in the number of patients and their condition, and we have opened a third ward for Corona nationals," said Dr. Mickey Dodkewitz, director of the center.
"There has been a hundreds of percent increase in the number of patients hospitalized in the past two weeks - most of them serious patients," explains the director of the Corona Department at Billison Hospital in Petah Tikva, Professor Alon Grossman.
"On the one hand there is the vaccine, but on the other hand there are the mutations of the virus. We are seeing a very significant increase in morbidity in 50-year-olds who have not yet been vaccinated."
"Always in self-examination"
The talk of the day among the senior doctors at the hospitals was the tragedy in Ichilov, which led to the death of the late Moshe Harazi. Dr. Assaf Miller of Maimonides admitted that
The goal is to identify and treat quickly.
We are far from being after the plague. "
The director of the Herzog Medical Center in Jerusalem, Dr. Kobi Habib, also emphasizes: "The reality is demanding and requires heavy decisions.
The incident in Ichilov requires us to check ourselves again.
Ichilov is an excellent hospital and if it happened in Ichilov - it can happen anywhere.
The conclusion is that we need to check ourselves all the time, keep our finger on the pulse and pass it on to the team. "
Dr. Rokach from Shaare Zedek concludes: “The workload is enormous.
I am sure the staff at Ichilov is excellent and such a case could happen anywhere.
We do everything checking ourselves over and over again.
"If we saw it happen in a well-defined place, I'm sure it could happen in other places."
"There is still no expectation of a decrease in the number of patients"
Meanwhile, the director general of the Ministry of Health, Prof. Hezi Levy, contacted the hospital directors yesterday and instructed them to add beds for Corona patients, following the jump in the volume of illness.
According to a table attached by the CEO to the letter, the target is 3,200 beds in total, compared to the current amount of 2,000. According to this directive, a quarter of all hospital beds in Israel will be allocated to Corona. At the same time, Prof. Levy stressed that A place of hospitalization, but must be prepared accordingly. "
"We are in the midst of a third wave witnessing an increasing rate of patients in need of hospitalization, with a higher number of critical and critical patients than previous waves," Levy added in his letter.
"In the next two weeks, there is still no expectation of a decrease in the number of patients. The current morbidity load is stretching the readiness to the limit of capacity."
The director general of the Ministry of Health added that if the extra beds did not meet the demand, the system would be required to open beds to hospitalize Corona patients at the expense of existing ones. Also, a discount to reduce loads from staff caring for Corona Canceling non-urgent activity.
A senior health ministry official admitted that "we considered issuing a directive to stop performing elective operations such as surgeries and outpatient clinics, as was the case in the first wave, but it was decided not to. Both because of the experience gained in the first and second waves The twins according to his needs in the best way. "
In a statement issued yesterday, the corona's commissioner, Prof. Nachman Ash, emphasized that "the workload is present in all departments, and the treatment of such a situation is not optimal."
He said, "There is a shortage of manpower in front of the number of patients, in some of the intensive care units they have changed the ratio between the number of patients to each nurse.
Participated in the preparation of the article: Meital Yasur Beit-Or, Yaron Doron, Gadi Golan and Yuri Yalon
