Česky
We hereby state that since the start of the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, through all subsequent waves, we have always applied a responsible approach to all positive patients seeking care in our health facilities without delay. We have always taken a lucid approach to setting up all protective measures with regard to the current situation in our and other hospitals, fully respecting the regulations of the Ministry of Health of the Czech Republic and the procedures agreed with the Central Bohemian Region.
"This year's fifth wave of COVID-19 is no different. We are gradually adopting the necessary anti-epidemic measures, which we are applying with regard to the current number of hospitalized patients, the number of employees and the overall operation of hospitals. We have restructured the care in all our healthcare facilities, reduced the operation of standard wards and created special COVID wards where we primarily care for COVID-19 positive or suspected patients," says František Vlček, MD, Director of Development and Innovation of AKESO Holding.
"It is not even true that we have not limited our operative activity. We have limited elective surgical procedures in order to free up the capacity of intensive care beds, especially those with the possibility of artificial pulmonary ventilation, primarily for COVID-19 positive patients. We are even currently in a situation where we have more COVID-19 positive patients in the hospitals in Hořovice and Beroun, in terms of bed capacity, than in the Motol Hospital," added MUDr. Vlček.
Furthermore, it is not true that private providers stand outside the pandemic management and can behave as they see fit. For almost two years now, we have been under de facto management by the Ministry of Health on the basis of emergency measures, we are subject to the management of both regional and central emergency authorities (e.g. intensive care dispatch), and we report several times a day to state and regional authorities. We therefore consider the artificial division of hospitals into public and private in the approach to the pandemic, as presented by Director Ludvík, to be unnecessary and unfounded. During the pandemic, the health care facilities belonging to the AKESO medical holding company hospitalized thousands of patients with COVID-19, administered approximately 115,000 doses of vaccine and performed almost one million RT-PCR or antigen tests.
In conclusion, we would like to emphasize that just because we have not fully suspended elective care at this time does not mean that we are limiting or distancing ourselves from the care of COVID-19 positive patients. On the contrary, we are trying to strike a reasonable balance between deferring elective care and meeting the region's needs for COVID-19-related hospitalizations. Elective care is not a waste of care, and deferring it poses significant challenges for patients and risks worsening their health status. By extending waiting times for elective care, delaying prevention and screening for e.g. cancer, we are setting ourselves up for a huge problem in the future. We have the utmost solidarity in our approach to tackling the pandemic and feel competent enough to manage this without blanket regulations that may do more harm than good.
