“The move from Kroměříž to Prague was smooth, the drivers were considerate,” the police commented on the road move on Twitter.
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Transporting five patients connected to pulmonary ventilation at once is an exceptional and medically and logistically demanding event. Ambulances went to Prague together with two accompanying police cars. Another rescue car drove with them.
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“There is spare material in the accompanying car, as well as oxygen bombs, in the event of an unexpected situation or if the cars got into a convoy,” said Egon Havrlant, a spokesman for hospitals in the Zlín Region.
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From hospitals in eastern Moravia, which has been one of the most affected regions in the country for several weeks, four men and one woman aged 44 to 64 went to Motol under the supervision of rescuers. Two patients are sent by the Uherskohradišťská and Kroměříž hospitals, one by the Tomas Bata Regional Hospital in Zlín.
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“We are transporting patients with coronavirus in the most serious condition to Prague’s Motol. Everyone must be connected to artificial lung ventilation during the trip, and there is a doctor in every ambulance, ”said Tomáš Gabrhelík, Regional Coordinator of Intensive Care and Head of the Department of Anesthesiology, Resuscitation and Intensive Care at the T. Bata Regional Hospital (KNTB) in Zlín.
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In this five patients, the health condition associated with covid-19 has become so complicated that they must have the necessary support for breathing and blood circulation. “When handed over to an ambulance, during a several-hour trip to Prague, and when taken over in Motol, they must be provided with continuous artificial lung ventilation, without which they would not be able to survive,” Gabrhelík described.
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After arranging the ambulances in Kroměříž and checking the condition of the patients, paramedics set off for the nearby motorway. One police car was in front of them, the other was closing the convoy. The situation was good on the highway towards Vyškov. There were only a handful of other vehicles. A slight obstacle to the smooth passage was only a thick fog, which, however, disappeared during the morning.
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In front of Prague in Průhonice, another police car was waiting for an ambulance convoy, which ensured a smooth passage through the capital.
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Paramedics bring a stretcher with a coronavirus-infected patient to the Motol University Hospital in Prague.
Photo: Kateřina Šulová, ČTK
The transport was part of mutual assistance between Czech hospitals.
Hospitals in the region are on the verge of capacity, on Thursday there were already 482 covid positive patients. Over 100 patients with covid and other diagnoses need intensive care, the remaining capacities are already limited. Therefore, the hospitals started at the end of last week with the transfer of covid patients to hospitals in other regions, by Thursday they had transferred 27 patients to standard beds by Thursday, now they are taking patients to a Prague hospital for the first time, moreover in a serious condition.
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