Senior doctor sounds alarm on tent in Östra: "Risking people's lives"

In Stockholm, the medical management has chosen to treat less seriously ill patients in the tent hospital in Älvsjö. In Gothenburg, on the contrary. Those patients who are so ill in covid-19 that they require intensive care are now being added to the new tent that the Swedish Armed Forces has built up.

"There is no reason not to give our severely ill patients the best intensive care and that opportunity is not in the tent," says another consultant who also wants to remain anonymous.

Together with several colleagues, you now sound alarms from the profession and point out what you consider to be an inferior care environment.

- There is no water or drain in the tent. It is crowded and patients have to be much denser than inside a regular ward. In addition, the ventilation is poor and the respirators are very out of date, says another doctor.

SVT News West has talked to several senior doctors who give a consistent picture of the criticism that exists. They all want to be anonymous because they think the criticism is very sensitive in the hospital.

The management team at Sahlgrenska University Hospital has an ambition to keep the hospital covid 19-free for as long as possible. Therefore, all patients who are ill have been placed at the Eastern Hospital where the infection clinic is located.

- The overall assessment is that it is good that we test and use the tent now at a quieter stage. To be able to see that different things work, before we get into a situation where it gets really tough, says Per Karlsson, who is the first chief physician.

Per Karlsson believes that the management listened to the concerns that exist and believes that all places will probably need to be used in the future. Even those who are empty now and that the issue must be seen in a longer perspective.

He also wants to emphasize the exceptional situation that prevails in healthcare. But the critical doctors do not accept the explanation.

- I would like to see the person who voluntarily wants to be part of an attempt to be evaluated when you are seriously ill. If you want to test the function of the tent, it is more reasonable to move less ill patients there. The inferior care we provide here risks people's lives, says one of the doctors.