Hospitals to beef up staff ahead of likely swine flu pandemic

The Health Ministry on Wednesday ordered all hospitals and clinics to increase their staff as of November 1 to cope with the expected spread of swine flu this winter.

Two weeks ago, ministry officials told a meeting of the Knesset Labor, Welfare and Health Committee that it expects between 700 and 1,000 Israelis to die of the H1N1 virus this winter, most of them children and pregnant women.

On Wedesday, the disease was blamed for its 11th Israeli victim, a 63-year-old woman from Be'er Sheva who had been hospitalized for the last month and also suffered from heart disease and diabetes. The ministry said it was not clear that swine flu actually killed her, but she had been positively diagnosed with the disease and it could not be ruled out as a contributing factor.

The ministry suggested that hospitals and clinics secure the necessary additional staff for the winter months by recruiting retired health professionals, canceling continuing education courses and seminars for doctors and canceling vacations.

It said that hospital emergency rooms will need one extra doctor present on the evening shift, until 11 P.M., and this extra doctor must specialize in either geriatrics, pediatrics or internal medicine. Emergency rooms will also need two extra nurses on the morning and evening shifts and one extra on night shift.

Staff in internal medicine wards will also be bolstered as needed, depending on occupancy.

To free up space in these wards, long-term patients will be transfered to geriatric hospitals if their condition is stable - a practice that has been employed in winters past.