“The situation in the world is very stressful, to say the least. And the situation is not easy in Belarus either. We often say that the situation is not easy but under control,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said.
According to the president, he came to Vitebsk to see the real state of affairs in the healthcare industry at the local level. “People's treatment in general and coronavirus treatment in particular,” the head of state explained.
On local experience
According to Aleksandr Lukashenko, the wave of coronavirus started in Belarus from Vitebsk Oblast at the beginning of 2020. “The region has accumulated huge experience in the treatment of people,” the head of state said. For example, a decision to separate COVID-19 positive mothers from their healthy children until mothers recover was made at the Vitebsk Oblast maternity hospital during the first wave of coronavirus. This measure was taken to prevent the infection of children. Although the WHO recommends not to separate mothers from children in spite of the potential infection risk.
“We have accumulated our own experience of fighting against this evil,” the president said. “We have learned to treat people.”
Availability of equipment
According to the head of state, the next aspect is the availability of equipment. The availability of ventilators is being monitored. About of 500 ventilators from the total number of 2,500 are now used in Belarus. “We have enough ventilators. We will do our best to avoid the deficit of ventilators,” the Belarusian leader said.
Operation of regional response teams
Taking into account the experience from the first wave of coronavirus, regional coronavirus response teams proved effective. Therefore, a decision was made to resume their work. They should focus on the organization of treatment, the supply of PPE and medications. “When we have an opportunity to mobilize all tools and resources for the resolution of a certain issue, then we have the result. Who can organize it in Vitebsk Oblast? Of course, the governor and his administration can. Today he is in charge of these issues, especially of people's treatment, because the lives of our people are the priority,” the president said.
According to the president, the situation in Vitebsk Oblast is not disturbing. “The situation in the region is not critical, and should not be critical,” the Belarusian leader stressed. “Is Vitebsk Oblast in need of anything: doctors, personal protection equipment, other things? Tell us. In this room we will make any decision, even an impossible one. We want to work and will implement any decision.”
Reassuring statistics
The president mentioned a positive trend: the number of discharged patients is higher than the number of new hospitalizations with COVID-19. “Why is it reassuring? It means that our hospitals will not be overloaded, beds are available. Before that, the number of hospitalizations exceeded the number of discharged patients,” the head of state said.
However, according to the president, some critics say that patients are discharged too early. “Absolute nonsense! Doctors will never prescribe outpatient or recuperation treatment if they don't see any sustainable recovery dynamics,” Aleksandr Lukashenko said. Moreover, some hospitals take additional precautions and prefer to observe patients for a few more days to make sure that everything is fine.
Apart from that, the head of state cited current statistics on coronavirus pneumonias. As of today, there are 21,500 patients with this disease. 519 patients are on ventilators. The total number of ventilators is 2,500. The president added that we should not pander to certain “professional” communities and focus on figures. Certain figures depend on the number of tests. The more tests are made, the more positive results exist. In his words, it is more important to provide comprehensive medical aid to patients and use all available resources to continue treatment.
