Covid Italy, anesthetists alarm: “So many positives to operate”

“Hundreds of patients are detected as positive for” covid “and will have to be operated on, transplanted and assisted in the intensive postoperative. It is necessary to plan today what in a few weeks – after the last wave of the pandemic emergency – will become in all probability a new emergency health “. To underline one of the aspects that most frightens resuscitators anesthetists is Antonino Giarratano, president of Siaarti (Italian Society of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care). Experts turn the spotlight on what they deem at the moment “a neglected phenomenon: healthcare for asymptomatic non-critical Covid patients”. Today, reflects Angelo Gratarola, head of Siaarti anesthesia and perioperative medicine, “we experience a sort of color blindness of the risk bands. In fact, territorial orange is risked for patients hospitalized not because of Covid, but only for the incidental positivity discovered in the emergency room . This represents a concrete problem: the ministry should – after hearing the scientific societies, above all Siaarti – offer indications and operational guidelines to be able to undergo surgery for patients who are simply positive for the virus “. Every day, says Roberto Balagna, head of Siaarti critical emergency medicine, “we are forced not to operate on patients who would need surgery of a certain importance and necessity, for example cancer patients. I am referring to an increasingly numerous population , of patients vaccinated, often with three doses, asymptomatic and who test positive for the swab performed at the time of pre-admission. This population is becoming increasingly numerous both in the context of emergency urgency and with regard to patients who require life-saving transplants. clinical, logistical and organizational pathways are becoming more and more critical. If dynamic solutions are not found soon, by reviewing current procedures, the entire surgical system will soon be in chaos “.” Extreme pressures “on intensive care and anesthesia,” surgical pathways at risk of constant referral “, the specialists list in the note,” asymptomatic patients, guarantee of safe parts, lack of clear protocols in situations that were not foreseeable only two or three months ago “: Siaarti asks that” these areas are not overlooked or underestimated “due to the current global pressure. In light of this, Giarratano, on behalf of the scientific society, invites the Ministry of Health and the Regions to “focus attention on these critical issues and plan actions and methods of intervention, so that the National Health Service, currently engaged on two such burning fronts (fight against Covid and planning of the interventions foreseen in the NRP), know how to give a clear direction on the management of these problems to avoid the collapse of the health system in the coming months “.