Helsinki hospitals are beginning to feel the strain of the increased need for intensive care beds, as the number of Covid-19 cases picks up in the capital region.
According to Asko Järvinen, Chief infectious diseases physician at the Helsinki University hospital district (HUS), the number of Covid patients in HUS hospitals has doubled over the course of a week.
New variants detected in Finland have raised concerns about the course of the epidemic, and the chief administrative physician at HUS Veli-Matti Ulander says that patients have already been transferred to other parts of the country.
Lahti, Kotka and Lappeenranta have taken intensive care patients from the capital region.
"We are doing that to ease the burden Covid has placed on the HUS," said Ulander.
Järvinen added that the patients were transferred to ensure that HUS can continue to offer critical care, including transplant surgery, despite the increased burden from Covid.
ICU bed numbers can be raised
HUS Chief Medical Officer Markku Mäkijärvi told Yle on Sunday that HUS had updated its plans to handle Covid as a result of the increasing caseload.
He said that ICU places can be added in the HUS region if the situation deteriorates, and that patients would be transferred if necessary.
Järvinen said the pressure to move patients arose primarily because of a shortage of staff. Järvinen said that increased numbers of patients take resources from elsewhere in the hospital, with an insufficient numbers of nurses a particular worry.
"There's a shortage of nurses in several departments," said Järvinen.