Hospitals buckling under Covid pressure; Surgeries delayed
The Medisch Spectrum Twente hospital in Enschede has been fully occupied and can no longer admit new patients, RTV Oost reported. At the same time, The Erasmus Medical Centre in Rotterdam said it can only perform urgent procedures that need to be scheduled within two weeks, ANP reported.
Acute care can still be provided at the hospital in Enschede, and the emergency department is operating as per normal, but all new admissions are now being transferred to the other hospitals in the area.
According to a spokesperson from the Enschede hospital, capacity filled up partly as a result to the rising number of Covid-19 patients that were admitted in recent days. Additionally, the hospital also had to deal with increased pressure at the emergency department in recent days.
For several weeks, the Rotterdam metropolitan area and healthcare regions near there have been identified as experiencing the highest rate of its residents testing positive for the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Erasmus Medical Centre has had to make the difficult decision to stop organ transplantation procedures because of a lack of space in its intensive care unit.
On April 28, the hospital will consider how things should be dealt with in the upcoming period.
There were 2,615 Covid-19 patients being treated in hospitals across the country on Wednesday, five percent higher than a week earlier. That includes 822 patients in intensive care, nearly the highest recorded over the past year. One day before, the total number of patients surged up after a 24-hour period in which more Covid-19 patients were admitted to hospitals than in any other day since mid-December.
Despite concerns, the government has decided to go through with its initial plan to start relaxing the coronavirus measures on April 28 with the elimination of the curfew, the limited reopening of cafe terraces, more access to non-essential stores.
