Anesthetists on a war footing, for the super-work caused by the new wave of Covid infections. On the dock, in addition to the government that would not take the necessary measures, also the citizens who have not yet been vaccinated and who are causing a worrying jump in hospitalizations.

Based on the current trend in infections and hospitalizations, "in the next 2-3 weeks we expect a 70% increase in the number of beds occupied in intensive care by Covid patients, thus reaching about 1700 patients hospitalized in intensive care", said Alessandro Vergallo, president of the Italian hospital anesthetists association (Aaroi-Emac).

Today, Vergallo points out, there are 9,000 places in intensive care, but not all of them, and about a thousand are occupied. But it is unrealistic to think that we can further increase the number because there is a lack of doctors. This is not the solution, you cannot squeeze the system again ".

The solution - continues the president Aaroi-Emac - to face "the foreseeable growth of the pandemic wave does not lie in infinitely increasing the number of intensive care and medical areas, but in adopting more drastic social containment measures to curb the circulation of the virus, such as the stringent lockdown for the unvaccinated ".

Vergallo concludes: "We do not exclude protest actions by anesthetists and emergency room doctors, up to the strike, if the policy continues to propose the multiplication of beds in intensive care and the medical area as the only solution to deal with the worsening of the pandemic wave , regardless of the chronic shortage of medical staff and the working conditions of health workers ".

(Unioneonline / lf)

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