New wave of coronavirus has "covered" South Ossetia. Anti-records are updated almost daily. The number of detected cases of infection over the past day exceeded 200 people. At the same time, it can already be judged that the new wave is easier to bear.
In the “red zone” of the Republican Medical Center, 46 people are being treated, compared with the autumn wave, when the number of patients simultaneously treated in the infectious diseases’ hospital reached 180, and sometimes even 200 people, one can judge a milder form of the disease.
According to Soslan Naniev, a head of the Ministry of Health of the Republic, there is no way to identify a specific strain in South Ossetia, but he does not exclude that some of the inhabitants are sick with the Omicron strain, since sooner or later this strain should have begun to spread in the Republic.
“It can be judged only by indirect signs, specialists who are directly involved in the treatment of patients note a change in the nature of the course of the disease and a change in symptoms, which indirectly indicates that a certain part of the patients, either a large or a smaller one, suffer from the Omicron strain of coronavirus. The overwhelming majority of the residents of the \Republic who apply are able to bore the disease at home with appropriate treatment and medical supervision,” the minister commented to Res on the epidemiological situation in the republic.
According to the interlocutor of the agency, there is no tendency for an increase in the need for medical oxygen among patients treated in a hospital.
“Medical oxygen tanks are full and not wasted. This is about 9 tons. Also in reserve are about 250 cylinders filled with medical oxygen. And the oxygen station operates around the clock, which provides the small number of patients who need medical oxygen,” the Minister said.
He has stressed that the Ministry of Health purchases only certified medical oxygen, the supply of which has not been interrupted.
Naniev has added that the need for expensive biologics has also decreased, and thus it became possible to form a stock of these drugs, including financial ones.
At the same time, according to Naniev, the healthcare system is faced with the lack of a number of drugs in the RMMC for the treatment of various forms of diseases due to limited financial resources. This was due to the fact that the vast majority of the allocated funds were spent on the purchase of expensive drugs for the treatment of coronavirus, and the rest was spent on the purchase of preferential drugs for citizens who were forced to continuously take certain drugs.
“The choice was made towards the purchase of expensive drugs for the treatment of coronavirus. If one ampoule costs 50,000 rubles, and sometimes there is a need for two or three ampoules, then few of the inhabitants of the Republic are able to purchase them on their own. The same applies to expensive subsidized drugs that are vital for patients. Therefore, there was a shortage of all other drugs. Recently, the Ministry of Health received funds for the purchase, drugs have already been purchased and are being imported. Including for the treatment of coronavirus,” said the Health Ministerr.
In his opinion, in the issue of providing medicines, monitoring their availability and expiration date, along with objective factors, there are also subjective ones, which will be eliminated by the digitalization system of the entire process of procurement and distribution of medicines.
“A process that involves a large number of people is not immune to errors - intentional or unintentional. The computer program is already ready and will be launched this week, as soon as all purchased drugs arrive. The first stage in a single network will be connected RMMC and the State Unitary Enterprise "Yugoosetmedpreparat" - a warehouse. All district hospitals will be connected next week,” the Health Ministry said.
As clarified by him, this will ensure a clear online visualization of the number and names of drugs in all departments of medical institutions. In addition, according to Naniev, the computer program will also allow tracking the expiration date of drugs, any interested person can track how many drugs were purchased and how many were scanned when they entered the Republic.
“Further on, in the warehouse of any hospital, each drug will be scanned again and issued to a specific department for a specific doctor. That is, it will be possible to observe which doctor took the medicines and which patient they were prescribed to. For this purpose, a department for drug circulation control has been formed in the Ministry of Health. There will also be feedback. Any citizen of the Republic, a public organization or a supervisory authority, upon request, can receive the information about the availability of any drug and where the drug is located,” said Naniev.
In addition, according to him, for the first time in South Ossetia, a state-owned Internet pharmacy has been launched and residents of the Republic will be able to order the necessary medicines on the site without leaving their homes.
"The State Unitary Enterprise "Yugoosetmedpreparat" has the ability to sell medicines through a retail network. Now the necessary medicines can be ordered without leaving home, on the website www.aftek.shop. You should select the necessary drugs in the catalog, put them in the basket and the employees will bring the drugs home. So far, this service is available only to residents of the capital and until 24.00. But gradually we will expand the possibilities. All shortcomings in the creation of the resource and the organization of work will be identified already in the process, we will eliminate them and improve the mechanism," said Naniev.
Answering a question about the possibility of ordering drugs not listed in the catalog through the state online pharmacy, the Minister replied that such a function would also be developed.
