Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- The strategy developed in the course of the fight against COVID-19 may become a serious basis for new approaches of physicians in case of emergency. This was said on 28 May 2020 during an online conference jointly organized by the National Chamber of Innovative Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan and its Canadian partners. This was reported by the press service of the National Chamber of Innovative Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan.

This is the second webinar held with Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The main speaker on the Canadian side was the chief physician, head of the Ottawa Hospital Emergency Management Department, MD Andrew Willmore.

Representatives of the medical service of the Ministry of Defense of the country, the Ministry of Emergency Situations were invited to participate in the meeting directly to the central office of the National Chamber of Representatives.

As noted by the head of the National Chamber, Rovshan Izamov, opening the video conference, the experience gained in the course of the pandemic of the healthcare management model under such difficult conditions makes it possible to dynamically exchange and discuss innovative approaches, the dictates of which life itself dictates. And international participation in such a quantum leap is important and necessary.

This opinion was supported by Andrew Willmore, noting that, first of all, “from the strategy created on the basis of the experience of combating COVID-19, it is necessary to take lessons for emergencies”.

What new strategy did Canada get during the pandemic? According to the speaker, the structure of the regional public health administration was changed, a working group was created to model and manage emergencies, which is the spread of coronavirus infection. So, in the Ottawa region, such a group included experts from all existing hospitals, as well as organizations such as rehabilitation centers, home care centers, and long-term care centers (nursing homes). The work of the group is coordinated with the Department of Health Canada.

One of the main results of this unified approach to counteracting the spread of COVID-19 was the 50% discharge of coronavirus patients into the ambulance system. How did you manage to achieve this? A system was introduced in which any patient who came to a doctor with signs of COVID-19 was redirected to a separately created Testing Center. In particular, in Ottawa, a separate voluminous building was adapted for holding large events. In addition, some Nursing Clinics are engaged in testing, equipped with both the possibility of testing and additional diagnostic equipment, including MRI devices.

Such measures allowed to unload both the ambulance system and the primary health care unit (analogue of district doctors). “This has increased the capacity of the healthcare system as a whole,” said the speaker.

In Ottawa, this system worked efficiently, so out of 1 million 200 thousand inhabitants of the province, a million live in the city itself. About 17 hospitals are engaged in their service. “The established structure of regional healthcare management helped solve the problem of the “big wave” of infected people,” said Andrew Willmore.

The working group drew particular attention to the protection of particularly vulnerable segments of the population, including the elderly, the so-called Aborigines, risk groups, which include, for example, drug addicts, people with no fixed abode. There was an understanding that for the latter there is no possibility of self-isolation, that is, measures must be taken in this regard. Long-term care centers where the elderly live are organized by visits to doctors. All this became part of the prevention of the spread of coronavirus infection.

That is, the emergency created due to COVID-19 has largely changed the approach to organizing healthcare, and has given a correction to increase their effectiveness in such conditions.

“And it is very important not only to apply these approaches dictated by the situation, but to analyze them in a timely manner and make them a system in the organization of the healthcare structure in case of emergencies. We came to the conclusion that we need a system that will analyze and largely prevent difficulties in such situations. We realized that it is not individual organizations that are responsible for the emergency, but the whole system,” Andrew Willmore emphasized. In particular, an important conclusion is the need for a clear relationship between all clinics operating in the region. In addition, it is important to plan ahead for the next such situation. For Canada, for example, it is important to consider that with a population of 30 million people, the country has a large territory, the regions are located far from each other. At the same time, a system of approaches is being developed that is uniform for the whole country and this is helped by the fact that the public sector in health care occupies a large part here.

During the videoconference, healthcare specialists from Uzbekistan presented the experience of our country. Thus, the head of the Department of Anesthesiology and Resuscitation of Neurosurgery of the Central Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Uzbekistan, Bahrom Baratov, noted that in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the republic, special attention was paid to drivers of transit transportations, which were mandatory tested at the border. This made it possible to identify up to 10% of infected people in the total number tested in this category. In a similar situation in Canada, according to the speaker, only drivers with specific symptoms were tested.

Also, the experience of our country in the construction of additional hospital facilities for new technologies in record time was presented. This makes it possible to be prepared for any development of the epidemic scenario. As Andrew Willmore noted, Canada is just beginning to work in this direction, and is also studying experience in the use of rehabilitation zones. Uzbekistan successfully applies health resorts for this purpose.

Deputy Head of the Central Military Clinical Hospital of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Uzbekistan Bakhodir Abdulakhatov asked about Canada’s experience in treatment approaches at COVID-19. The response stated that there was no specific treatment for coronavirus infection in Canada, only symptomatic. Moreover, with a mild course of the disease, medications are not used for the patient, he is sent for self-isolation at home. For its non-compliance there is a corresponding liability, up to the criminal.

Andrew Willmore also noted the great importance of outreach among the population, including the consequences of non-compliance with sanitary standards, ways of contracting a coronavirus infection.

Given the great interest of the videoconference participants in the issues under discussion, it is planned to continue such meetings in an online format with the participation of Canadian specialists.