BALEARIC ISLANDS – Hospitals throughout the Balearics have been inundated with Covid cases requiring an ICU bed. Nearly 50% of patients in ICU are there due to coronavirus.
In addition to these patients, there are others. As such, beds are also occupied by people involved in traffic accidents or those that have heart attacks, etc. Thus, the wards are at saturation point.
High levels of ICU occupancy
Currently, there are 92 patients throughout the Island group in ICU infected with Covid. 73 of which are in Mallorca, 14 in Ibiza, and 5 in Menorca according to statistics from Cercle Mallorca.
Although the number hospitalised due to Covid is reducing, the length of stay required for those in ICU is longer. And, therefore, more people are being admitted than are being discharged. The number of those contracting the virus is also reducing. However, the knock-on impact of the ICU occupancy takes longer.
ICUs are saturated
Yesterday, Dr. Carolina Pérez from Son Espases Hospital stated “Every summer the ICUs are saturated. And now we have Covid patients on top of that. We have had to take polytrauma patients to resuscitation beds and the anesthetists do what they can. But it is not the same. On Thursday, there were two traffic accidents and one cardiac arrest. And we had two patients intubated for six hours in the emergency room waiting for a place,”
Dr. Pérez continued by saying, “Son Espases Hospital only had three beds left for critical patients for the whole weekend” as reported by Majorca Daily Bulletin.
Patients could be transferred to mainland Spain
It is thought that after the weekend, the pressure should lessen somewhat. However, if this is not the case, it could be that any new patients will be transferred to hospitals in mainland Spain or within the private sector if necessary.
