Professor İsmail Cinel, head of the Turkish Society of Intensive Care Medicine, has said due to the soaring number of coronavirus cases in Turkey, intensive care units are operating at 100 percent capacity, contrary to the 71.3 percent announced by the Turkish Health Ministry, Turkish media outlets reported.
“Seventy to 75 percent capacity actually means 100 percent. We must be able to meet the intensive-care needs of non-COVID patients. People injured in accidents or who had a stroke or heart attack also need intensive care. If these patients have difficulty receiving necessary treatment, if there is a delay, it means there is a red alarm situation,” said Cinel.
Coronavirus deaths in Turkey rose to a record for the seventh consecutive day on Sunday, when the country reported 185 dead, 45 percent above the peak of the first wave in April, and more than 29,000 cases in the last 24 hours.
Cinel said the number of severely ill coronavirus patients is increasing every day and that around 10-15 percent of COVID-19 cases require intensive care treatment.
“If the number of severely ill patients is increasing every day, we need to be greatly concerned. When something happens to us or a family member, it’s a problem to find an empty bed in an intensive care unit. Normally it takes a patient an hour to get into intensive care, but now it takes six hours. Early intervention saves lives,” added the professor.