In the next few days, we will receive about 10 patients in serious condition from Slovakia; they will be transported to a hospital in Nowy Targ – said Wojciech Andrusiewicz, spokesman for the Ministry of Health. He added that talks about similar assistance for the Czechs are underway.
Andrusiewicz was asked at a briefing in Warsaw about patients to be transferred to Polish hospitals from Slovakia and the Czech Republic; he was asked how many patients there were and when and where they would be transferred.
‘In fact, in the next few days, we will certainly receive around 10 patients from Slovakia; these are patients in serious condition, from intensive care units. They will be transported to the hospital in Nowy Targ, there are places prepared for them. In reserve, we have another hospital for them, in Rzeszów. This transport should take place in the coming days,’ informed the Ministry of Health spokesman.
Asked if these 10 patients from Slovakia were the beginning, Andrusiewicz said that at this point the Slovak side asked to receive and hospitalize so many patients.
He added that talks are still ongoing with the Czech Republic, which is more affected by the coronavirus outbreak than Slovakia. As he said, in the Czech Republic there are more than five times more infections per 100 thousand inhabitants than in Poland, while in Slovakia it is two and a half times more.
‘So, we are ready, given that we have a buffer of 12.000 beds, to help both Czechs and Slovaks,’ he declared.
A week ago, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki offered the Czech Republic and Slovakia places in Polish hospitals for Covid-19 patients. At a press conference in Katowice on February 18, Prime Minister said that Poland was only waiting for a signal from its partners in Prague and Bratislava.