SNS guarantees timely attention to those infected with COVID-19

The National Health Service reported that it has all the resources and the necessary provisions to guarantee a timely response to people affected by COVID-19 or any of its variants, who demand care in centers of the Public Network.

In this sense, the director of the SNS, Dr. Mario Lama, called on the population not to neglect preventive measures and stated that if hospital care is required, the entity has centers with sufficient beds for COVID-19 care, equipped with equipment, medicines, supplies, and personnel necessary to guarantee a timely and quality response.

Similarly, he specified that from the Health Cabinet coordinated by the Vice President of the Republic, Raquel Peña, constant monitoring of hospital occupancy is maintained. Furthermore, due provisions have been made to expand areas in case of exhausting capacity available, both hospital beds and Intensive Care.

“We must emphasize that we are far from exhausting the capacity of our COVID-19-enabled centers. On the contrary, in the current wave, occupancy shows slight decreases, registering an average availability of 75% in hospital beds, 60% in ICU beds, and 62% in ventilators nationwide,” explained Lama.

COVID-19 centers and expansion

The SNS has 117 hospitals for COVID-19 care; some offer the service, and others are available if required. There are 1,452 beds for hospitalization, 309 beds in Intensive Care Units (ICU), and a total of 273 ventilators, in addition to 65 available in-store that, if necessary, will be enabled in the Luis Eduardo Aybar Sanitary City and other centers of the Network COVID-19.

The Network also has an efficient referral system for transferring patients according to their condition and space availability, making it easier to complete the treatment in the corresponding units.

Dr. Lama explained that there will always be centers with higher occupancy than others due to their location and number of inhabitants, adding that when they approach medium and high occupancy levels, a containment plan is activated that includes an increase in beds and referrals of patients. to hospitals with greater availability within the Network.

Users can dial free from a landline or mobile phone to line * 462 to receive personalized assistance and information on the availability of COVID-19 beds nationwide and on the web portal sns.gob.do; they can find the list of centers enabled for COVID-19 by regional health.

Supply through PROMESE

The SNS, through its Directorate of Medicines and Supplies, coordinates with the Essential Medicines Program (PROMESE) the actions to supply medicines, supplies, and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to the centers of the COVID-19 Network and guarantee the treatment of those affected by the disease, in addition to the physical protection of health personnel.

Given the current situation, PROMESE extended the dispatch hours, which are carried out twice a month, in addition to attending emergency cases (complementary) that are not scheduled.

Last year, more than five million units were shipped, of about 87 items, including drugs for the treatment of COVID-19, supplies, and PPE.

Faced with a new requirement from the SNS, PROMESE will publish a new purchase process next week, for an approximate amount of 275 million pesos, to supply hospitals from February to March.

Equipment provision

During the current administration, the SNS incorporated 551 beds for intermediate and intensive care in the centers of the COVID-19 Network and they were equipped with 220 new ventilators to care for critically ill patients or those with respiratory complications.

The present administration also distributed in these centers 40 oxygen concentrators, 40 handheld pulse oximeters, 96 finger pulse oximeters, 7,520 surgical gowns, 7,500 surgical masks, 15,000 latex examination gloves, 900 face shields, 300 KN95 respirators, 25 oxygen concentrators. and 25 supply kits, donated by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO / WHO).