Health Minister Dr. Adam Niedzielski presented a plan to combat the coronavirus epidemic in the autumn on Thursday. Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska and National Consultant in Infectious Diseases, Prof. Andrzej Horban, also took part in the press conference.
Minister Adam Niedzielski stressed that a difficult period lies ahead because of the many infections that will appear in autumn and occur alongside coronavirus:
We have completed the stage of defending against the pandemic in which we used very drastic measures, lockdowns and solutions applied across the entire country. Now we are changing the nature of our actions, moving away from measures applied nationwide in favor of measures dedicated to regions. The strategy is a response to the changing nature of the pandemic. It consists of four areas.
The ministry does not anticipate another lockdown.
The strategy assumes major changes related to SARS-CoV-2 testing:
Testing
The main objectives in this area are to focus testing on patients who have symptoms and protect at-risk groups. “Above all, we will want to test patients who show standard symptoms, namely fever, shortness of breath and cough,” Minister Niedzielski said.
Four groups at particular risk were identified; they will be tested even in the absence of symptoms:
- before staying at a sanatorium
- referred to a care and treatment facility
- referred to a hospice
- placed, by administrative decision, in a social welfare home.
The minister said the strategy assumes that primary care doctors will be included in the testing system. Niedzielski stressed that if the test result is negative, the patient will remain under the care of a primary care doctor. If it is positive, the patient will be referred to the so-called infectious-disease pathway provided through a network of facilities treating infectious diseases.
The minister recalled that preventive measures remain fundamental in the fight against coronavirus. “Disinfection, distancing and masks remain very important elements in the fight against the pandemic,” he noted. “It is very important that we all take responsibility for the level of infections we have in the country.”
Three levels of preparedness
Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska announced the creation of three levels of hospital preparedness:
Until now, the main facilities treating coronavirus patients were single-name hospitals. This term is now disappearing. Hospital treatment for coronavirus patients has been divided into three levels.
He said that the third and highest level would consist of multispecialty hospitals. They will include, among others, internal medicine and infectious disease, general surgery, obstetrics and neonatology, cardiology, intensive care and orthopedic wards. There will be nine such hospitals in Poland:
- 4. Wojskowy Szpital Kliniczny z Polikliniką SP ZOZ we Wrocławiu
- Regionalny Szpital Specjalistyczny im. dr Władysława Biegańskiego w Grudziądzu
- SPZOZ Puławy w Puławach
- Szpital Uniwersytecki w Krakowie
- Centralny Szpital Kliniczny Ministerstwa Spraw Wewnętrznych i Administracji w Warszawie
- Samodzielny Publiczny Zespół Opieki Zdrowotnej w Kędzierzynie-Koźlu
- SPZOZ MSWiA w Białymstoku
- Megrez sp. z o.o. w Tychach
- Wielospecjalistyczny Szpital Miejski im. J. Strusia w Poznaniu.
The deputy minister stressed that patients diagnosed with coronavirus who require highly specialized treatment would be sent to these facilities. However, they will also be able to provide services to people who are not infected with coronavirus. More than 2,000 places have been prepared in these hospitals.
The second level will comprise 87 infectious and infectious-observation wards prepared to admit COVID-19 patients. Altogether, they have approximately 4,000 places for patients requiring typically internal-medicine care, as well as, for example, ventilator support.
The first level, meanwhile, will include hospitals belonging to the so-called hospital network. “There are more than 600 such hospitals in Poland, so I think there will be a sufficient number of beds,” he said.
Deputy Health Minister Waldemar Kraska said that 21 isolation facilities currently operate, with 2,025 places for COVID patients. There are also approximately 200 swab-collection teams, which collect an average of about 4,400 swabs per day.
There are currently also 148 ambulances used to transport COVID-19 patients.
The strategy also provides for expanding the network of collection points. Access to the points will increase, among other things, through extending their operating hours.