'This is essentially war time medicine': Consultant warns govt to protect supply of ventilators
A respiratory consultant has urged the government to protect the country’s stock of ventilators, many of which are manufactured here.
“This is essentially war time medicine,” respiratory consultant Dr Oisin O'Connell told RTÉ radio’s Today with Séan O’Rourke show.
“Speed is of the essence. Regular decision making pathways are not what are needed at the moment.”
“We are watching a tsunami coming towards us,” he added as healthcare professionals are expecting to see around 15,000 Covid-19 cases in Ireland by the end of the month.
Dr O'Connell said that the work that is done now will affect the outcome of the virus spread.
A number of consultants, microbiologists, primary care healthcare staff and pharmacists are part of a WhatsApp group, aimed at getting certain information out rapidly, learning from the experience of colleagues in China and Italy, he explained.
Both China and Italy have handled the situation very differently and Italy has warned Ireland to increase its ventilators tenfold to fifteen fold over, not by 10-15%, he said.
Medics in Wuhan had been very helpful in sending documents on the measures it used to contain the virus.
Dr O'Connell said it is very hard to build infrastructure rapidly to deal with the number of ventilators needed.
Both Europe and the US are now realising the quantity of ventilators and other equipment that will be needed and were finding it difficult to source from the usual suppliers.
Meanwhile, Professor Sam McConkey has praised health care workers who have undertaken extra training to help combat the coronavirus.
This was an important measure, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland with staff looking at ways to focus their abilities and undertake extra training if necessary.
It was not a big stretch for some to retrain in respiratory treatment while others were assisting with contact tracing and answering questions.
Physiotherapists were also important in helping patients move secretions in their lungs.
Staff were more important than mechanical ventilators, he said.
We are cherishing our staff and getting back staff to help combat the virus.
He added that recently graduated medical students would also start work soon.
Prof McConkey said if there is ‘buy in’ from the public in terms of social distancing, then hopefully the number of cases will slow down.
He said we are seeing a 30% daily increase and it takes a couple of weeks for social distancing to take effect and to see the number of cases reduce.
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