New restrictions will not lead to desired results, say doctors

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The government's decisions to limit Covid-19 won't have the desired effect, and it is difficult to find a dialogue with the government, said Roberts Fūrmanis, Vice-President of the Latvian Medical Association in an interview with Latvian Television broadcast “Rīta Panorāma” October 12.

The state of emergency announced by the government this week came into force along with a series of restrictions on reducing the spread of Covid-19.

“In our view, these decisions and the situation at present in the country will not have the desired effect and will not have any significant effect on the reduction of morbidity,” said Fūrmanis.

According to the medical association, face-to-face contact should be cut by at least 40-60%. That would mean tough restrictions on both those vaccinated against Covid-19 and those not vaccinated.

"At the moment, we see that such a regulation has not been adopted. Consequently, the situation in the healthcare system is already disastrous and will continue to be disastrous. We don't see any benefits from the restrictions that have been adopted,” the doctor added.

Moreover, the association does not currently see a way to negotiate with the government, because a dialogue does not take place.

“There was a meeting of the Crisis Management Council in which an expert working group, in consultation with epidemiologists, offered its own vision, which was not actually taken into account. Consequently, it is very difficult to find a dialogue with the government so that the decisions taken by the government are much more reasonable,” he said.

Asked about possible sorting of patients in hospitals, the medic said that doctors would have to take decisions on which patients could and could not be given treatment.

“These decisions are not easy, they are very difficult. These decisions also have legal consequences. The situation has now emerged that this decision has been left to the doctors by the State because it is not known at our disposal that there should be a regulation on the sorting algorithm or how doctors should proceed in a situation where providing assistance to all patients becomes impossible,” he said.

Like the head of the Emergency Medical Service (NMPD), Liene Cipule, also Fūtrmanis said that the situation in hospitals could only improve around Christmas or New Year.

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