East Tallinn Central Hospital to open its third Corona ward

The third Covi-19 ward was opened on 1 March on the premises of the orthopaedics department in Ravi Street. The new ward adds 26 beds for Covid patients, raising the total number beds to 114, including nine beds for level III intensive care and 17 beds for level II intensive care. East Tallinn Central Hospital now has the most corona beds of all Estonian hospitals.

Due to opening the third Covid ward, the hospital is significantly reducing scheduled treatment in surgery and internal medicine. Scheduled treatment will continue to the extent possible. The hospital’s crisis committee reviews the situation on a daily basis and makes decisions based on current developments. The Eye Clinic and Emergency Medicine Centre will continue work as usual.

“Every Covid ward we open means we have to cancel some scheduled treatment on account of that,” said Dr Ralf Allikvee, Chairman of the Board of East Tallinn Central Hospital. “If we can get away with one medic in a regular ward then more staff are needed in corona wards. Working in PPE gear simply isn’t possible for more than three hours at a time. This has led to a shortage in staff. We are able to play around with beds but are running low on available employees.”

As of Friday morning, the total number of Covid patients admitted to East Tallinn Central Hospital was 76.