Rehabilitation centers are again the ones most affected by the impact of the sixth wave of Covid. As has happened since the start of the pandemic, physiotherapy rooms and other spaces used for the rehabilitation of patients have ceased to provide their services and are used again to treat Covid-19 patients.
The Spanish Society of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine (SERMEF) denounce the gravity of the current situation Spanish primary care is facing due to the consequences of the sixth wave of Covid. This entity underlined that, as has happened in other waves of the pandemic, they have returned to close spaces such as gyms in the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Services to have beds for Covid-19 patients, causing new cancellations or delays of many treatments of patients.
And it is that this sixth wave has once again modified the functioning of health centers in Spain and has caused, in particular, the delay again thousands of treatments of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. This situation is affecting a large number of patients who are recovering from its sequelae due to brain damage, fractures, musculoskeletal injuries, recovery from surgery or one’s own aftermath of Covid-19among other pathologies.
In this context, the SERMEF underlines that “The spaces of Rehabilitation services do not have to be closed and should be considered a priority. We must not forget the patient with stroke, cranioencephalic trauma, spinal cord injury, polytrauma, burn, infarction or postoperative, which is part of a group identified by the WHO as essential diagnostics”. Also add that “exists staff shortage to care for patients and this issue is one more problem to add to the great problem of closures in Rehabilitation services”.
Lastly, the SERMEF “Understands the importance of the epidemiological situation, becoming 100% involved in it”, but vindicates the health authorities “a real face-to-face care in Rehabilitation Services that puts on the table valid and real alternatives to continue with the treatments”. “The rest of the pathologies should not be forgotten, the sequelae of chronic diseases associated with aging, rehabilitation care after surgery or for other clinical needs, together with those of COVID-19″, he warns.