The Czech Republic has asked the World Health Organisation for emergency assistance in the effort to keep the country’s struggling health system running. Securing medical professionals is now the priority: 16,000 doctors and nurses were infected with Covid-19 as of Tuesday, according to the Czech Medical Chamber. Title Image: Logo of the World Health Organization. Credit: United States Mission Geneva via Flickr, licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Czech Rep. Nov. 5 (BD) – As the country faces the second highest Covid-19 infection rate in Europe, hospitals are struggling to keep up, as they face a growing number of patients and a shrinking number of doctors and nurses. According to Reuters, around 70% of Czech hospital beds are now occupied.
As of Tuesday, about 16,000 doctors and nurses were infected with Covid-19, as reported by the President of the Czech Medical Chamber Milan Kubek. More painfully, five doctors have already lost their lives fighting the virus.
Faced with this dire situation, the Czech Republic has asked the World Health Organization (WHO) for emergency assistance in order to secure medical care for the sick. The Emergency Medical Team system will be activated, allowing teams of health professionals to join the national efforts.
As far as international cooperation goes, operating on Czech territory will also be military doctors and medical workers from the United States. Seven have already arrived in the country. Germany has offered two military doctors and has agreed to take in Czech patients from the border regions.
Furthermore, the Chamber of Deputies has authorized 300 military medics from the EU and NATO to operate within the Czech Republic for a period of 90 days.
Internally, the Czech Red Cross has started a course for hospital volunteers. Both volunteers and medical students have significantly impacted the response to the crisis as they strengthen care and testing capacities.
