“It is important to return to our old reflexes“, he advises, recalling “to wear a mask in case of symptoms and not to endanger vulnerable people, such as the elderly“. Also, the doctor asks the citizens “to consult their general practitioner before going to the hospital“. “Coming to the emergency room is the best way to become infected“, he declares.
Postponed surgical interventions
Currently, at the Citadelle, 10 patients are hospitalized for Covid, 10 for RSV (Respiratory syncytial virus) and 10 for influenza. Another ten “waiting for a bed“. This phase “critique“in particular pushed management to”cancel surgical interventions and postpone everything that could be postponed“. Emergency solutions “that bring back bad memories“.
La Citadelle hospital, in Liège, will install an ATM at its own expense: “It’s important for our patients”.
But if we are indeed talking about a flu epidemic, Doctor D’Hoen wants to be reassuring: “It’s nothing we haven’t already known“. Only, “the accumulation of different viruses seems to complicate things“. To this is also added “a weakened health system“. Indeed, since the Covid-19 pandemic, “we observe a severe lack of nursing staff in our hospitals“, deplores the CHR advisor. “Fewer caregivers means condemned beds“, he concludes, convinced”that such an epidemic would have been quickly absorbed without these structural failures“.
