Joint statement of the directors of the Rescue Service Košice and Rescue Health Service Bratislava on the mediaalized theme of the lack of protection aids for rescuers or unclear procedures for interventions related to COVID 19:
We want to assure all residents that our rescuers are fully available 24 hours, 7 days a week. The COVID-19 intervention protocol was drawn up several weeks before the first officially identified case in Slovakia. Our employees have not only received theoretical training, but also ongoing consultations aimed at evaluating the risk intervention procedure, identifying possible errors and deficiencies and setting up the entire operation so that it is in no way paralyzed by the new coronavirus. Even during this period, we must deal with serious accidents, road accidents and other acute conditions.
In the current situation, we consider it necessary to note that both state emergency services have sufficient supplies of protective equipment (PPEP) for all of their employees in such a range and quantities as to minimise the risk of contamination of employees in the current situation. To this end, internal norms and measures for the use of PPE have been adopted in accordance with the standard procedures for each type of situation and condition with which they can be contacted in the field of intervention. We have sufficient supplies of surgical masks, respirators FFP2 and FFP3, protective shields and glasses, protective suits, as well as devices for the highest level of protection, such as semi- and full-face masks. At the same time, we are continuously working on further expansion of PPE stocks, particularly because, as state providers of acute health care, we provide healthcare to the widest extent and in the most complicated conditions, even outside of our natural region. Our paramedics and doctors in the current epidemiological situation follow a rigorously developed protocol that defines all types of procedures (including cardio-pulmonary resuscitation of COVID-patient) to the crew and is available to the public on the website of the Ministry of Health (https://www.standardprocedures.sk/clinical-protocol-spdtp-clinical-management-suspects-and-confirmed-cases-civid-19.). This protocol includes the decision-making procedure for the choice of the degree of protection as well as the procedure for disinfection and decontamination of crews and ambulances. These procedures were already developed in early February 2020.
As far as the calls themselves are concerned - the ZZS are normally broadcast for intervention by the OSCP, which at first contact with the caller verify not only the acute health problem of the patient, but also other circumstances related to his personal history (travel history, contact with positive persons, etc., associated difficulties or body temperature). The crew shall, on the basis of this information and the standards referred to above, choose the degree of protection and adequate protective equipment.
Following the transfer of the COVID-spectrum patient, the interior of the ambulance is decontaminated in accordance with the standardised procedures followed by our crews. We monitor all the intervening crews continuously. We are trying to prevent any possible community dissemination between workers from compromising the running of CS CE and ZZS BA. The quality of set-up procedures is also indicative of the absence of Community dissemination in our series so far. Rather, we are concerned about cases of concealment of important information about patients (return from abroad, from risk regions, contact with a positive person, also secondary) towards our workers. They are thus completely unnecessarily exposed to the risks which they could have prepared in advance by using an adequate level of protection, within the meaning of the above-mentioned standardised procedures.
We assure the public that all doctors and paramedics ZS KE and ZZS BA are still trained and trained for COVID-19 interventions and are committed to helping every citizen with health problems requiring urgent pre-hospital care.
Ing. Bystrík Mucha, Director of ZS KE, v.r.Ing. Dušan Michalko, Director of ZZS BA, v.