What is the health safety of Poles during the COVID-19 pandemic? After the meeting of the Health Committee devoted to this topic, there is little doubt that we will have a hard week ahead. Us citizens, health professionals, the entire healthcare system. And the state.
Fifth Wave Strategy or Reality Enchantment?
Published Jan. 27, 2022 08:25
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Deputy Minister of Health Waldemar Kraska informed the deputies about the preparations and decisions of the government. - We are already in the fifth wave of infections, which is definitely different from the ones that are already behind us - he said. Omikron is already responsible for over 40 percent. infections. The number of tests ordered by POZ is growing exponentially, which proves the large number of infectious patients visiting the clinic. The situation in hospitals is stable, according to the Ministry of Health.
The deputy head of the Ministry of Health informed about the decisions that have already been announced and have either entered into force (the obligation to personally examine patients over 60 years of age, infected, within 48 hours of a positive result), or will come at any moment (performing antigen tests in pharmacies). Waldemar Kraska assured that if necessary, the number of Medical Rescue Teams would be increased. He also argued that in hospitals oxygen installations have been prepared for an increased number of patients, and oxygen banks will ensure an adequate supply of oxygen to facilities. The tests were an important topic - on Wednesday, the Ministry of Health announced that a record number of them, over 170,000, was completed the previous day. Kraska announced that in addition to access to antigen tests in pharmacies (which may be a problem anyway, so far the accession to the program is not impressive at all), the tests will be available at swab points. There it will be possible to do either a PCR test or just a quick antigen test. Waldemar Kraska emphasized that all tests performed in pharmacies and points of sale will be entered into the system.
Katarzyna Lubnauer (KO) assessed that the idea of testing in pharmacies is not good, because even customers who come for drugs can become infected in them. The deputy also inquired about the bill that the government announced during Tuesday's meeting with the opposition. The Speaker of the Sejm in the morning informed that the draft had already been received and was being analyzed, but in the morning (or in fact until Wednesday evening) the draft was not given a print number and was not published, it was not given to MPs - so PiS parliamentarians cut attempts to discuss it, for example what is the point of fighting the pandemic through civil lawsuits that can be brought (in the future) to the employers' court against their employees who have not complied with the testing obligation. KO MPs also wanted explanations regarding the obligation to examine patients 60+ by primary care physicians regardless of medical indications.
- Yesterday, after the meeting with the prime minister, we received an assurance that we would proceed with the Hoca Act, we already know today that it will not be processed at this meeting. We are waiting for the bill announced by President Jarosław Kaczyński. Why is there no mandatory vaccination? What are you waiting for? I want you to save people - said Marcelina Zawisza (Left).
- The government sends doctors to the sick, you say no here. Pharmacy tests, you also say no. These are these tests, where are they supposed to take place, in bakeries? - one PiS deputy sneered. - It is impossible to talk without emotions, because here we are talking about human life - replied Monika Rosa from KO.
Barbara Dziuk (PiS) defended the government and thanked for making decisions during the epidemic - you make decisions that are sometimes wrong, but you make them for the good of us all - she said. "This is a great minefield that we must all master," she said.
During the meeting, the President of the Supreme Medical Council, prof. Andrzej Matyja. In his opinion, what the minister of health presented as a strategy for the fifth wave can hardly be considered a strategy. - It's a very exaggerated term. It is more like conjuring up reality.
The head of the medical self-government reminded that the community of medical workers already in summer called for preparation for the fall and winter wave of infections. - It's all too late. We expected a long-term, variant action. And I must say with regret that we all wasted this time - he added. He asked where to get the personnel decimating the quarantine and, also, the infections. Prof. Matyja also mentioned the obligation to examine a patient 60+ within 48 hours. - This is shocking. Why is a doctor deprived of the right to act in accordance with his knowledge and competences? Why do you want him to tie his hands with the decisions of non-medics? - He was asking. - This is cynical and wicked. Please don't bind our hands. Don't make us treat some patients at the expense of others, he concluded.
