RIGA, Oct 8 (LETA) - As the number of Covid-19 patients continues to rise, increasingly more healthcare workers are contracting the coronavirus and hospitals are facing a significant shortages of personnel, Latvian Hospitals Association's Chairman Jevgenijs Kalejs told LETA.

"There are fewer people every day because they are Covid-19 positive, or they got infected elsewhere, or they are mildly ill, even if they have been vaccinated. But they are not at work, so staff shortages are getting worse every day," said Kalejs.

There is also a lack of motivation because the National Health Service's compensation payments for overtime work are not paid on time. "Overtime payments are delayed for three months," said Kalejs.

When asked whether hospitals currently lack beds, equipment or personal protective equipment, Kalejs said hospitals had enough of everything, but the biggest problem was transforming wards to accommodate the growing number of Covid-19 patients.

"For instance, we are closing the cardiology department because we need to admit more Covid-19 patients. So all cardiology patients are hanging in the balance - they are not being helped. But we know that if we do not help them today, they can either to die or be in a much worse condition in six months," explained Kalejs.

Hospital wards are transformed into Covid-19 wards taking into account the specific situation at each hospital, for example, Tukums Hospital has transformed the internal medicine ward into a Covid-19 ward, while other medical institutions have reorganized neurological disease wards, trying to transfer staff to the newly established Covid-19 wards. "But the staff working at Covid-19 wards have to do twice as much work. So more staff members have to be involved, they have to work overtime, but the payments for overtime work are not paid on time," said Kalejs.

Kalejs believes that one of the solutions could be to hire additional staff, such as young physicians who have not yet opened a practice, as well as medical students.