The Albert Schweitzer hospital in Dordrecht will keep its doors closed to new corona patients for the next 24 hours. Every bed in the hospital is occupied, reports board chairman Peter van der Meer. In addition, the number of coronavirus infections is also rising sharply among hospital employees.
Van der Meer talks about an ‘inevitable choice’. “It is not possible to open another corona department, because we do not have enough staff to do so.”
‘Very worrying’
For now, the hospital has 35 corona beds in the nursing ward and 6 in intensive care. The care beds are all occupied, the occupancy of the IC beds varies.
According to Van der Meer, the situation is ‘very worrying’. The GPs in the region, just like the ambulance service, have received the message that the hospital “in principle cannot receive new corona and corona suspect patients for 24 hours.”
Other hospitals, which according to Van der Meer are also heavily burdened, should assist Albert Schweitzer where they can. “We are already using all the resources available to us. The solution will have to come from outside the region and from above.”
No other option
The temporary closure for new corona patients “is diametrically opposed to our sense of duty and our social function,” writes the chairman of the board. But “there is no other option, without compromising quality and safety for the patients now entrusted to our care.”
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