Facing new COVID wave, Dutch delay care for cancer, heart patients

Facing new COVID wave, Dutch delay care for cancer, heart patients Dutch healthcare officials said on Friday they have begun delaying operations for some cancer and heart patients to free up space in intensive care units during a record wave of COVID-19 infections. Reuters Reuters

AMSTERDAM, Nov 19 (Reuters) - Dutch healthcare officials said on Friday they have begun delaying operations for some cancer and heart patients to free up space in intensive care units during a record wave of COVID-19 infections.

"These are cancer patients that should actually be operated on within six weeks of diagnosis, and that won't be met in all cases. It's also heart patients," said a spokesperson for LCPS, the national organisation that allocates hospital resources. ..

With fewer than 200 beds remaining in Dutch ICU as of Thursday, hospitals are scrambling to add more capacity. ...