If you have to go to the emergency room in Valais, you will have to be patient. Indeed, the Valais hospital announced on Facebook that its emergency services were facing an exceptional overload of patients. “Although we do everything we can to meet every need, waiting times for mild cases are currently particularly long,” he warns.
In a press release, the establishment explains this situation by a large influx of tourists, the holiday period and favorable weather, conducive to winter sports and therefore to accidents.
Questioned by the daily “Le Nouvelliste”, the Valais Hospital explains that the emergency rooms received up to 262 patients in one day during the weekend between Christmas and New Year. While on average during the year, they receive 120 patients per day. Even last year, they had “only” 252 patients.
“In this context, we would like to remind the population that priority is given to vital and serious emergencies,” recalls the establishment. “If you are faced with a non-vital emergency situation, we invite you to consider other options in order to relieve our teams and allow everyone to receive appropriate care in a timely manner,” he adds.
The Valais Hospital therefore refers patients to medical care (0900 144 033) or pediatric care (0900 144 027), or even to pharmacies which can also give advice on a state of health. He also mentions the Valère Medical Center, the Espace Médical Valais-Wallis in Sierre, the Vigimed hotline in Martigny and the Emergency Medical Center in Visp.
