prijava
SARAJEVO, October 26 (FENA) - Due to the rapid increase in the number of coronavirus patients in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Crisis Staff of the FBiH Ministry of Health adopted several new orders at an extraordinary session to be applied in the next 14 days.
One of the orders introduces an obligation to wear a protective mask outdoors throughout the Federation of BiH, because the incidence in FBiH has doubled compared to seven days ago and now amounts to 160, which is the number of patients per 100,000 inhabitants.
Assistant Minister of Health of FBiH and member of the Crisis Staff of the Ministry of Health Goran Čerkez emphasized that all hospitals in FBiH will have to put at disposal 30 percent of their capacities for the response to coronavirus patients within 72 hours.
"We demand the suspension of cold working programs in all hospitals, and only emergency cases should be covered and those that cannot wait, and which the specialist-consultative service says are necessary to do, and the others should be suspended," Čerkez explained.
This means that all emergency patients will be cared for, including oncology patients who should not skip therapies, patients who need immunotherapy and the like.
Activation of all accredited laboratories has been requested in order to start testing in certified laboratories, and the possibility of antigen testing will be introduced, but individuals will be tested in the prescribed manner and PCR remains the basis.
"This test is used only when PCR is unavailable, or when it takes a long time to process the results, when there are a large number of test requests or when symptomatic patients are involved. Testing with these tests will be possible only in public health institutions," he emphasized.
The Crisis Staff has banned organized travel for beneficiaries of social care institutions, and all these measures come into force on the day of their adoption and are expected to be adhered to by all.
Čerkez notes that a large part of the measures relate to the health system and capacity expansion because if this trend continues, a large influx of patients can be expected by the end of November.
"First, all health capacities must be filled, and then alternatives will be considered," underlined Čerkez, who says that a difficult period is ahead of us, but that it is not a time for panic but for responsible behavior.
BiH has a lower incidence than some neighboring countries such as Slovenia and Croatia, but fears have been expressed that such a dynamic could create a number of problems for overworked health care workers who need help from us all.
Political parties are called upon to show responsibility during the campaign eriod, to respect measures and orders, and to campaign in alternative ways.
(FENA) S. R.
