More than 80% of ICU beds occupied at public hospitals
Just 220 of the country’s total 1,220 intensive care beds at public hospitals were free on Friday morning, the Greek Health Ministry reported, saying that the availability rate for both Covid and non-Covid beds was at just 18%.
Regarding ICU beds for treating non-Covid patients, the ministry said just 124 of 569 (or 22%) are still available in different parts of the country. The situation is even worse with regards to beds reserved for Covid-19 patients, with an availability rate of just 15%, as 555 of a total of 651 beds are occupied.
In Thessaloniki, Halkidiki, Katerini and Kavala in northern Greece – where the second wave of the pandemic has been especially fierce – public hospital intensive care units had just eight free Covid beds on Friday morning from a total of 218.
The picture in Attica was only slightly less alarming, as there are just 45 of a total of 218 beds available for critical coronavirus patients at the intensive care units of its referral hospitals.
Facilities in Thessaly and mainland Greece are also badly stretched with just 3% availability, while military hospitals have assigned 18 ICU beds to Covid patients, of which 17 are already occupied.
According to the Health Ministry, public hospitals across Greece have set aside a total of 6,362 beds for treating patients infected by the novel coronavirus at every stage of the disease. Of these, 4,079 were occupied on Friday morning.
