Riga Eastern Clinical University Hospital (RAKUS) is still able to provide first aid and other medical services to all patients even though the increasing numbers of Covid-19 patients puts a lot of pressure on the hospital’s resources, said RAKUS board chairman Imants Paeglītis in an interview to LTV programme Rīta panorāma on 8 October.
At the morning of 8 October there were 203 Covid-19 patients undergoing treatment at RAKUS. Approximately one-tenth of them were put in intensive therapy. The hospital has about 270 beds for these patients. This number keeps changing, however. Yesterday 40 new beds were opened. This happened at the expense of other wards. The hospital started limiting its services this week by postponing some of the scheduled surgeries.
Patients awaiting surgery compose 20-25% of RAKUS patients.
According to Paeglītis, RAKUS is still able to provide first aid to all patients regardless of whether or not they were brought in by an ambulance or on their own. Still, patients may have to wait in queue.
When asked if there were cases when any of the hospital staff tried making fake Covid-19 certificates, Paeglītis said there have yet to be any specific case. He said there were suspicions at some point, and research was done why some patients have low immunity even after vaccination. However, no evidence was found in the end.
90% of the hospital’s employees are vaccinated for Covid-19. Paeglītis admits it is likely someone may be laid off because of refusal to vaccinate. He hopes, however, there won’t be many such people.
Covid-19 pressure is high, but RAKUS is still able to provide medical services to all people in need
