Children’s hospitals overcrowded
No free beds for the little ones
More and more children’s hospitals are sounding the alarm: Because there are no free beds, small patients have to be transported across Switzerland. A quick solution to the problems in our children’s hospitals is not in sight.
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The RS virus is currently making many small children and babies sick. And ensures overcrowded children’s hospitals. (icon picture)
The smallest patients are currently having a particularly difficult time. Because Swiss children’s hospitals are overcrowded. And children are transported across Switzerland in search of free beds. Blick recently reported: In one case, a child was flown from Zurich to Geneva.
This week the children’s clinic at the cantonal hospital in Winterthur ZH sounded the alarm. “We have a lot of small patients and often no more free beds for them,” says chief physician Traudel Saurenmann (62) to the “Landbote”. It is rare for children’s hospitals throughout Switzerland to be overcrowded. “We’ve never had it as bad as this year,” said the chief physician.
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No quick solution to the problems
Just one day after the call for help from Winterthur, the University Children’s Hospital in Basel also reported: They were at the attack, even if no children had to be transferred here. In Zurich, the situation escalated at the beginning of November. Even then, the Kispi had to take patients to hospitals outside of the canton because all the beds were full. And the situation is no better in many other Swiss children’s hospitals either.
The main reason for the overload is a particularly aggressive virus. The respiratory syncytial virus, RS virus for short, can lead to shortness of breath, especially in babies and small children. A particularly intense RSV wave is currently sweeping across Switzerland.
But the lack of staff also contributes to the state of emergency. In some children’s hospitals, not all beds could be occupied because there was a lack of nursing staff. In addition, the children’s hospitals are chronically underfunded, as they have been complaining about for a long time. There is no quick solution in sight for any of these problems. (sac)
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