The hospitalizations in the Intensive Care Unit have broken every previous record, says to KYPE, the Spokesman of the State Health Services Organization (OKYPY) Charalambos Charilaou, pointing out that the situation is particularly worrying. It also sounds the alarm that the health system does not have unlimited possibilities but it has its limits.
Mr. Charilaou stated that a large number of patients with COVID are treated in hospitals, which is around 300 daily.
"What we are observing is that the number of patients in the Intensive Care Unit is constantly increasing. We have broken every previous record, we have reached 50 patients, 14 of them are under 50 years old and that is very worrying. "The median age of the people hospitalized in the Intensive Care Unit is 57 years", he noted.
The second observation, he continued, is that the median age of people treated in common wards has reached 59 years. "We are seeing an increase lately and that means more and more older people are being treated, most of whom are unvaccinated," he added.
There is an ongoing plan for the development of beds
Asked what will happen if there is more demand for COVID beds, Mr. Charilaou said that "there is a plan in full swing, which provides for the development of more than 300 beds in common wards and around 65 beds in the Intensive Care Unit. "Where we need to develop beds, we do it," he said.
But what we all need to realize, he pointed out, is that the health system does not have unlimited powers, it has its limits because in addition to COVID patients there are other patients who need to be treated in wards or in the Intensive Care Unit.
Appeal to health professionals to be vaccinated
As far as health professionals are concerned, Mr. Charilaou said, a high percentage of medical workers have been vaccinated. Nurses follow, he continued, where there is still plenty of room for vaccination.
Our appeal, he added, is to proceed with their vaccination immediately.