GENOA (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 19th March, 2020) Patients diagnosed with the coronavirus disease are transferred to hospitals across Italy if any shortages of equipment or beds arise in the most affected regions, Valerio Mogini, a doctor from the Italian Red Cross' biocontainment unit, told Sputnik, noting that no one is denied care.
Asked whether Italian doctors are forced to opt for saving lives of younger patients given the lack of ventilators, Mogini replied that "this is not totally true."
"Doctors in the most affected areas are transferring patients to hospitals where there are intensive care beds, and also now they are transferring patients across the whole national territory so that they can rely on the whole country. At the same time, in intensive care and in emergency care you always have to make hard decisions. So they are not denying health care to the elderly but they are trying to find place in intensive care for everyone," he explained.
According to the doctor, Lombardy and Milan have "a good number of intensive care beds" but still not enough for now. The authorities are seeking to set up intensive care units "wherever they can" but it is difficult to do it "from scratch," he added.
With nearly 33,200 confirmed cases, Italy is experiencing the biggest coronavirus outbreak outside of China. On Thursday, its death toll overtook the Chinese one, jumping to 3,405.
