The Rotterdam hospitals Maasstad and Ikazia are concerned about the number of visitors expected at the Eurovision Song Contest. According to the directors, their staff is overburdened with caring for corona patients. They therefore cannot guarantee that they will be able to provide any extra care during the festival, they say News hour.
The directors have expressed their concerns in a joint letter to Mayor Ahmed Aboutaleb. Their concerns are not about larger numbers of corona patients, but about people who need acute medical care because of, for example, alcohol and drug abuse or incidents.
Ticket sales for the festival will start tomorrow. Spread over six days, up to 30,000 visitors are expected in Ahoy. In an emergency, visitors are normally transported to the nearest hospitals, which are Maasstad Hospital and Ikazia Hospital.
–
“We want to help everyone who comes to the festival, including visitors and artists. But I think it is very unwise to organize such a large Fieldlab event in a region that is already heavily burdened with corona care,” said Peter Langenbach, director of the Maasstad Hospital.
Rob Kievit of Ikazia Hospital, located opposite Ahoy: “The corona pressure is still not decreasing. This Fieldlab event may only mean more pressure for the staff. The question is whether we can continue to provide the full guarantee on medical care. . “
‘Careful organization’
On behalf of Mayor Aboutaleb, a spokesman said that the arrival of the visitors has been carefully prepared. She points out that the cabinet has decided that it can continue. There is also a ‘stop button procedure’, which means that the public is not welcome if the national occupancy of IC beds exceeds 900. Read the full response here.
An estimate made by the municipality would show that the pressure on medical care is not too bad. A substantiation of that expectation is not available. According to Langenbach and Kievit, their hospitals are not involved by the municipality in the preparations for the arrival of the visitors.
Rob Kievit doubts whether the importance of festivities outweighs the burden of care. “The pressure on our medical staff is not diminishing. When I see the behavior of people at Easter, King’s Day or the inauguration of Ajax, I wonder: ‘Why is that necessary?”
‘Small chance of incidents’
A spokesperson for Franciscus Gasthuis & Vlietland, a hospital in the north of the city, said that he understood the concerns of both hospitals. Ernst Kuipers of the Erasmus Medical Center, on the other hand, does not expect a problem: “In relation to the usual set-up, these are small numbers, about 15 percent. The chance of incidents is therefore very small.”
–
