As Czech hospitals are on the verge of exhausting capacity for COVID-19 patients, the government has called for healthcare professionals from outpatient and private medical facilities to help in state hospitals. Babiš warned that due to the critical situation in hospitals, people should not expect a relaxation of the anti-epidemic measures after the end of the three-week national lockdown. Photo: Prime Minister Andrej Babiš at the press conference after the government meeting on March 3. Credit: Vlada.cz.
Czech Rep., March 5 (BD) – The growing pandemic crisis in the Czech Republic remains a huge challenge for health professionals and the government. As Czech hospitals are on the verge of exhausting capacity for COVID-19 patients, the government decided at a meeting on Wednesday that regional governors and the Mayor of Prague will now be able to call on healthcare professionals from outpatient clinics and private medical facilities to help in state hospitals, under the crisis measure regarding the imposition of work duties. The call also applies to providers of spa treatments and rehabilitation services, and is in force as of yesterday, March 4th.
Doctors and health professionals from outpatient, day, and inpatient health services will be on duty. The call also applies to other employees of these facilities, yet will not include general practitioners, pediatricians, gynecologists, obstetricians, and their employees. The government underlined the importance of this step in order to ease the pressure on intensive care units.
Additionally, in a recent parliament session, Babiš warned that due to the critical situation in hospitals, people should not expect a relaxation of the anti-epidemic measures after the end of the three-week national lockdown. Babiš has emphasized that the easing of the measures depends on people’s willingness to follow the rules. “We will certainly not ease the measures, there is no justification for that. I really don’t want to promise something, because we have promised many times already. I don’t even want to make any predictions. I’m not able to say any specific numbers here. In short, that prediction is not possible. We need to ease the burden on the Czech healthcare system. And as it develops, we will respond.”
