For a year, he has been working 12-hour shifts, taking care of almost 20 patients with COVID-19, and he admits that it is impossible to treat everyone in the right way.
The lack of health staff continues to present problems at the University Clinical Center of Kosovo in Pristina, where patients infected with the coronavirus are being treated.
A nurse (whose identity is known to the editors), on September 6 confessed about her work at the peak of the pandemic.
"Extremely tired. Being a nurse taking care of 20 patients is too much. Giving therapy, conveying oxygen, temperature and many other tasks and demands, which you have to face", she tells Radio Free Europe.
According to her, the challenges are numerous and in the absence of staff, this nurse indicates that there are times when she cannot provide the same service to all patients and sometimes they may even suffer.
"For example, a patient's condition worsens and the doctor says 'send blood for emergency analysis soon.' You have to leave all patients and their therapies halfway and you can't refuse such an order", says the nurse.
Also, in a KKUK clinic, where about 60 patients with COVID-19 are treated, there are only three small oxygen cylinders for the patients and they have to move these cylinders when they go, for example, to the toilet or to performed various photo shoots outside the clinic.
“You've got to get that oxygen tank and the patient cart. And meanwhile you are with other patients... but you have to carry the canister, the trolley - there is no chance to do it all because you are alone. We only have three canisters, which you have to go and fill, and they all have work to do. It happens that we are not able to serve everyone", she explains.
Deaths of patients and encounters with their families are not rare events in the ward where this nurse works.
"In addition to other work, the nurse who is on shift must deal with the corpse herself, if it has been positive (with coronavirus) there are special procedures, where it must be placed in the designated bag, the forms with the patient's data must be filled in, etc. others", she says.
"I have had cases where the patient, as the family members say, never had any health problems, but within a week he died due to oxygen problems. Such cases affect us a lot. I followed the case non-stop, his oxygen (level) and pulse kept dropping and then he died. There (inside the ward) we feel great pain because there are many touching moments", adds the nurse. Resting during working hours is almost impossible for this nurse.
"We don't have time for a break, absolutely. Earlier we had the kitchen open, but for two weeks they have closed the kitchen. They bring us dinner, but cold. Firstly, we don't even have a place to sit, we use the patients' kitchen when it is open", she says.
This nurse, who herself was infected with the coronavirus, says that she also transmitted the virus to her family members.
"This year I also took a vacation, but they also interrupted that vacation, we were not able to use it," she says.
In the public sector, a doctor's monthly salary is around 600 euros per month, while nurses are paid around 400 euros for their work.
On September 6, the Ministry of Health in Kosovo announced to Radio Free Europe that they have started hiring additional health staff who will deal with the management of the pandemic and the immunization process.
"In the past week, 200 nurses have been engaged in the Clinical University Hospital Service of Kosovo, another 100 are signing contracts today (September 6), while another 5,000 nurses are expected from September 6 to be ready to start work as well", it is stated in a response from the information office of the Ministry of Health.
On August 18, the Government of Kosovo approved the decision to increase the health staff.
During the past week, the directors of general hospitals in several municipalities of Kosovo, where patients infected with the coronavirus are being treated, declared that they have a shortage of health staff.
The Ministry of Health in Kosovo has announced to Radio Free Europe that by September 6, 17 percent of the general population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus.
Meanwhile, 35 percent of the population received the first dose. In the last seven days, 181 deaths and 8,901 new cases of coronavirus were registered in Kosovo./REL/
Information source @BalkanWeb: Read more at: www.botasot.al
