2020-10-19 19:51 update: 2020-10-20, 18:47
Minister of Health Adam Niedzielski. Phot. PAP/Rafał Guz
Temporary hospitals for COVID-19 victims will be established in all Polish provincial capitals, Health Minister Adam Niedzielski said on Monday as he revealed a new government plan in the battle against the coronavirus.
Niedzielski told a press conference that the first temporary clinics would open in the Mazowieckie, Malopolskie and Wielkopolskie provinces. He said the government planned to situate them in old hospital buildings or exhibition halls and announced that more details about their locations would be available within the next two weeks.
The temporary hospitals are to be overseen by the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of the Interior, Niedzielski said. He added that one such hospital may be built in the National Stadium in Warsaw.
Niedzielski said that the pandemic plan also anticipated cooperation with private medical centres and the army, and said a list of private clinics with beds for coronavirus patients could be available by Wednesday. He added that private medical operators could possibly provide over a thousand beds for COVID-19 victims.
The plan also envisages the staffing of drive-thru coronavirus testing points by soldiers instead of medics in a bid to free more medical staff for work in hospitals.
Under the plan, medical personnel directly involved with coronavirus victims (doctors, nursing staff, rescuers) would receive a 100-percent wage bonus. Also, quarantined and isolated staff would receive full wages for the entire quarantine/isolation period.
One of the solutions to streamline work during the pandemic is the introduction of the possibility, with the consent of the employer and employee, for persons in quarantine to work remotely, something they were not permitted to do until now.
Also foreseen is the employment of foreign medical staff.
Niedzielski said that the number of daily infections in Poland could be between 15,000 and 20,000, next week, and appealed for strict adherence to current pandemic laws. (PAP)
