Helsinki University Hospital district (HUS) has announced plans to reduce non-urgent medical care in the capital region to ensure sufficient numbers of medical staff are available to treat the growing number of coronavirus patients.
In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, HUS said that non-urgent patients will be contacted by phone or by letter in the coming days.
The statement added that a new 10-bed intensive care unit will be opened in the city’s Surgical Hospital as the need for additional places grows. There are currently 45 coronavirus patients being treated in hospitals across the district, 17 of whom are in intensive care.
HUS said the availability of the staff is the most important factor in tackling the growing number of coronavirus cases.
"Our goal is to ensure that the transferring of staff for the treatment of coronavirus patients comes equally from different units, so as to lessen the impact on other departments," Helsinki University Central Hospital’s director of nursing services Marja Renholm said in the press release.
In addition to the care of coronavirus patients, HUS said it will ensure the treatment of patients requiring urgent medical care.
In order to safeguard this, a number of coronavirus patients will be transferred to intensive care units in Turku and Kuopio, the district added.
"The patients to be transferred will be carefully selected and will be transported by ambulance," HUS head of department Ville Pettilä said.