Health minister warns Czech hospitals could soon be short of ventilators

If the number of Covid-19 cases continues to rise at the present rate hospitals will be short of ventilators within a few weeks, Health Minister Roman Prymula told a closed meeting of Committee for Health in the lower house.

According to a record of the meeting released on Thursday, Mr. Prymula said hospitals must stop distinguishing beds for patients with and without Covid-19 and postpone planned surgeries.

According to data from the Institute of Health Information and Statistics, Czech hospitals have a total of 22,872 beds with the option of supplying the patient with oxygen. 979 of them are reserved for patients with Covid-19.

According to Prymula, their occupancy is close to the limit, but so far the capacity is sufficient. However the capacity of beds with ventilators is fast reaching its limit.