Znak.com: Russian clinics can’t cope with the flow of patients

Polyclinics cannot cope with the flow of patients caused by the onset of a new wave of coronavirus with the Omicron strain. The authorities believe that due to the relatively mild course of the disease in most cases when infected with “omicron”, the main burden this time will fall on the primary link, that is, polyclinics. But, as the doctors explained to Znak.com, the impact of this wave on medicine will be much more tangible, since in most regions the shortage of doctors in polyclinics is much greater than in hospitals.

As a doctor from one of the hospitals in Kurgan told the publication on condition of anonymity, the reduction in personnel in the primary care of the region has been going on for the last 10-15 years. According to him, in polyclinics, the appointments are mainly made by paramedics, the possibilities to undergo ultrasound, CT, MRI according to compulsory health insurance are extremely limited, and there is often no one to prescribe these examinations and analyze them.

“And it turns out that now all those who have not been examined, with advanced pathology (that is, not examined in time and not treated at the outpatient stage), with urgent pathology that can be provided on an outpatient basis, and those who need to be hospitalized, are being taken to the Kurgan Emergency Hospital (BSMP ). The workload on duty doctors at the emergency hospital is colossal. It is more than that of the same doctors in Chelyabinsk or Tyumen, since there is no such collapse of the primary link. Accordingly, the guys work for two and for three, ”says the doctor.

Now, according to him, planned assistance has been reduced in the Kurgan region, and for some important specialties it is completely absent. The most acute problem is with cancer, where delay turns into death. It is necessary to identify the disease at an early stage, namely in polyclinics, but often this does not happen due to problems with making an appointment with specialists and for research. As a result, patients with the third or fourth stages of cancer are already admitted to hospitals.

His colleague, a therapist at one of the Kurgan polyclinics, also calls the lack of personnel the first and main problem of the primary link. “If the therapist is even seven spans in the forehead, he will still work on the assembly line, he may miss or not notice the symptoms of the disease, because sometimes up to 80 people go through the appointment (along with calls),” says the physician.

The second problem of outpatient care is that it is difficult to make an appointment with a doctor. For example, she says, the therapist saw the symptoms of some disease sent to a cardiologist or gastroenterologist, and the record was only two months later. “The disease will not wait, it progresses further. And then the person gets to a specialist with a more serious case, ”says the doctor.

The third problem is salaries: “They are low at the primary level, so paramedics often sit at receptions, and the guys after the residency tend to get into the hospital.” Plus, doctors have a huge amount of paperwork: for each patient, you need to fill out a huge amount of documents. And this is what the doctor calls the fourth problem.