Doctor Çelik, we talk to you regularly about healthcare issues that concern us all. Now we have to start again with Corona: What was the situation for you in the summer?
We never had a time when we weren’t caring for a Covid patient. There were always symptomatic and rarely severe cases. These were patients who belong to the vulnerable group, i.e. patients with an underlying disease that weakens the immune system, chemotherapy or other medications that affect the immune system. We continue to have cases that require very lengthy treatment in the intensive care unit. This is a reminder that this disease can still be very serious. But in terms of numbers, it cannot be compared at all with the pandemic years, when we still had a lot to do with severe Covid cases, even in the summer. Now this is all at a very low level. Covid is now one of the many diseases for which we are responsible in the hospital and which can sometimes get us into difficulties.
What kind of Corona situation do you expect in autumn?
The numbers have been rising again at a low level for two months, and we have also noticed this in the hospital for a month. This also presents us with the challenge of effectively protecting other patients from infection. We have therefore already reacted and are testing patients who arrive via the emergency room at a lower threshold – if they have symptoms of respiratory diseases. However, we continue to only test on an ad hoc basis. When there is close contact with patients, we already have a requirement in some areas in the clinic that you wear a mask. There will be two big challenges next autumn: One is employee protection; too many staff must not be absent during the infection season. And we have to protect the highly vulnerable groups from infection and provide them with good care if they are sick.
How are the stations organized?
Nothing has changed in the isolation conditions yet; two Covid patients can be accommodated in one room together. We have an isolation area in our ward, where patients with various illnesses that require isolation are currently lying there. As soon as there are more Covid patients again, this will be the Covid area. But mildly ill patients can also be isolated in other areas of the clinic.
Many more people got tested during the pandemic than now. Are you missing this data?
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