In the near future, 580 additional beds for Covid-19 patients will be created in hospitals. On Tuesday, the government allocated 11.7 million to this target, and some hospitals have already started setting up beds.
As a result, around 1600 Covid-19 patients will be able to be hospitalized in Latvia at the same time.
“The situation remains serious. The total fill of beds varies at around 80% each day,” said Sanita Janka, head of the Health Ministry's Department of Health Care Quality Division.
Only a total of 2 million of the amount allocated by the government will be spent on beds. More than 9.3 million are dedicated to the purchase of medical equipment and disinfectants.
However, according to hospitals, the biggest problem at the moment is not the lack of beds or equipment, but the lack of staff, as it has been for a while. Unfortunately, the additional funding provided by the government will not solve this problem.
“No funding is provided for the recruitment and motivation of the staff. This is intended specifically for the re-profiling, creation and purchase of non-reusable hardware directly for the treatment of Covid-19 patients,” said Janka.
