ICUs in Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe are almost full, coordinator warns

All intensive care units in hospitals across the northern provinces of Friesland, Groningen and Drenthe are almost full, ICU coordinator Peter van der Voort said in Omrop Fryslân program Buro de Vries on Monday. "They only have one bed for emergencies. There is no more space."

The overly taxed ICU capacity is partly caused by the increasing admissions of Covid-19 patients transferred to northern hospitals from other parts of the country. According to Van der Voort, around 30% of ICU occupants in the north were patients transferred from elsewhere in the country. 

The University Medical Center in Groningen previously announced that only emergency procedures were guaranteed to take place prior to the May holidays period. With the hospital fighting an increased influx of Covid-19 admissions, dozens of cancer and heart patients scheduled to undergo surgery over the next two weeks at the UMC Groningen will therefore have to wait until after the May holiday period. 

Van der Voort, who is also a member of the Eerste Kamer, the upper house of Dutch parliament, believes that the government has failed to properly warn about the seriousness of the situation. Additionally, the easing of the lockdown measure happened too soon, said the D66 senator.

"They should have communicated more intensively. The urgency was not conveyed properly," he argued.