The Chairman of the hospital's Board of Governors Imants Paeglītis told LTV that preparations for the storm in literal and figurative terms are taking place, namely that the hospital may experience an influx of patients due to weather conditions, as well as the extensive spread of Covid-19, which may lead to an increase in the number of patients and the number of infected employees in the hospital.
Some 200 Covid-19 patients are currently treated at RAKUS, but not all are in the Covid-19 department. Part is also in other isolated rooms since they tested Covid positive when arriving at the hospital for different reasons.
50 medics have fallen ill with Covid-19, but “unfortunately, this figure goes up”. Paeglītis said that, in a critical situation scenario where there is no assistance, the possibility of allowing an infected medics to work in Covid-19 departments. “Of course, separating the infected workers from the uninfected,” he said.
He said that in the case where 50% of the hospital staff were ill, they would have to start limiting scheduled services. With 75% of the staff ill, only emergency assistance could be ensured.
The head of the hospital called on people with other illnesses to take advantage of this time and to go to the hospital without waiting for the health issues to escalate, as there are currently no restrictions on the services provided.
