The beds in the intensive care units were becoming scarce, the nursing staff had reached their limit and the university hospitals had postponed more than 4,000 operations since October. According to the “SonntagsZeitung” five Swiss university hospitals have therefore sent a warning to Federal Councilor Alain Berset. “There will be ethical questions,” said Uwe E. Jocham, head of Bern’s Inselspital, to the newspaper. The hospital directors fear that there will be a third wave of coronavirus after Christmas and that the hospital system could collapse.
Demand for stricter intervention
In their letter to Berset, they demand stricter intervention by the Federal Council. In the University Hospital Zurich, one of the largest hospitals in the country, there are just three beds available in the intensive care unit, it said. This has drastic consequences for patients with other life-threatening diseases.
Zurich chief doctors also warn of a collapse
There is also an appeal from doctors in the “NZZ am Sonntag”. Three Zurich chief physicians want to shake up the public. They warn of the collapse of the hospitals. “The health system is already overloaded. For weeks, »say Urs Karrer, chief physician at the Cantonal Hospital in Winterthur, Huldrych Günthard, professor of infectious diseases at the University Hospital Zurich, and Gerhard Eich, chief infectious disease specialist at Triemli. You emailed the newspaper.
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