Data gathered by the Trade Union of Doctors and Pharamcists of Serbia (SLFS) confirm that up to now 73 doctors have died and the list of deaths keeps growing.
Infectologists, Lejla Ćeranić, who at one point during the most severe epidemiologic wave was the only specialist of infectology in Novi Pazar hospital, and Jovana Milić, associate-scientist at the Unversity of Modena and Reggio Emilia, say that there are many reasons which contributed to a huge number of deceased people – from fatigue to the lack of routine tests for health workers.
– The number of deceased doctors in Serbia is worrying, especially if compared to the region where in Slovenia not a single doctor died and in Croatia one death was recorded. This number is also worrying compared to the overall number of inhabitants in Serbia and the number of infected people which was officially published. In Italy by the middle of September 174 doctors died out of 17,000 infected. We don’t have data for Serbia on how many doctors had been infected by corona virus since the beginning of the epidemic. Just the same as we don’t have the data on the infection and death of other health workers and assistants working in health institutions, explains Jovana Milić.
At the beginning of the epidemic the news on deceased doctors arrived periodically while in the last wave not a single day passed without news that another doctor who was infected by corona virus passed away.
Infectologist Lejla Ćeranić comments that out of her own experience she knows that if hospitals are full, doctors can barely protect themselves from infection.
– During the worst situation in Novi Pazar 100 health workers were infected. We didn’t have a sufficient number of doctors nor medical workers. In the red zone I had full protective equipment but could I take care of how I’m taking it off and putting it on, when the most important thing was to examine all those patients who were incessantly arriving? Nobody could even respect the rule of exiting the red zone after four hours. I spent ten, eleven hours wearing a protective suit. The moment when more doctors were included, we were relieved. Then we realized that it was all about good organization, says Ćeranić.
Jovana Milić also warns that being overburdened puts doctors at risk of getting ill.
– I know that one doctor takes care of 40 patients taking oxygen. Just knowing that you are responsible for 40 lives puts a huge pressure on you. And to make right decisions for yourself and others, it is necessary to be rested, says Milić.
She adds that in Italy most medical workers got infected, not in red but in green zones, getting into contact with the infected whether in the very health institution or out of their work place. Among other things, the measures taken in this country entail regular PCR testing.
– Non-covid patients going into hospitals in Italy need to have a negative PCR test. I know that for some time in Serbia the condition for getting into hospital was to have a negative serologic test and afterwards a negative antigen test. These tests are cheaper than PCR test but are also less reliable, so it could happen that an infected person is not detected if a testee is someone not having symptoms. Therefore, it is possible that some doctors could get infected that way. Finally, I don’t know how often medical workers are routinely tested in Serbia. In Italy doctors take PCR tests every two weeks, sometimes more often, so that those infected could be detected on time, says Milić.
Besides the names of deceased doctors which were published by the Trade Union of Doctors and Pharmacists of Serbia and Serbian Medical Chamber, up to now not a single serious research has been done to give answers to the question whether and why the doctors were additionally at risk during the pandemic. Lejla Ćeranić stresses that these questions demand an answer which is not hard to get if everybody does their job.
– It is necessary to compare deaths of doctors to the deaths of general population in order to see if there is a significant difference. We have to know what happened – is our health system in such a catastrophic state? But this is the job for the specialists who don’t work with patients, namely for statisticians, epidemiologists, social medicine specialists, concludes Ćeranić.
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