As to hospital surgeries that have been postponed or rescheduled due to recurrent waves of Covid-19, the Estonian Health Insurance Fund expects the majority of them to be done by the end of 2021, Estonian public broadcaster ERR reports.
An official of the Estonian Health Insurance Fund, Marko Tähnas, evaluated that most of the backlogs which formed after the first and second waves in 2020 and 2021 have been reduced. For example, surgeries postponed in the spring were carried out in summer.
Read also: BNN ANALYSES | Despite fewer Covid-19 cases Lithuania toughens facemask wearing rules
The severity of the crisis has been different in the largest Estonian hospitals in each wave of the pandemic. The North Estonia Medical Centre in Tallinn was the worst hit in the spring, this wave it has been Tartu University Hospital in south Estonia.
«Fortunately, the current situation in northern Estonia has changed and the planned work can be done almost in full, [but] there are still people, who are waiting in South Estonia, but most of the work will probably be done by the end of the year,» the official noted. Meanwhile, in a number of areas such as orthopaedics or specialist treatment might still be delayed until next year as wards are still being used for coronavirus patients, admitted Marko Tähnas as quoted by the ERR.
Virus-delayed surgeries in Estonian hospitals expected to happen still in 2021
