9 am Laburo
Llueve en Londres....
Del Times de hoy, para que los residentes en UK nos quedemos tranquilos....
NHS 'can't cope with pandemic' By Mark Henderson, Science Correspondent
A BIRD flu pandemic would have a catastrophic im- pact on Britain and the NHS would struggle to cope, the British Medical Association said yesterday.
Intensive care units and GPs could not cope if the H5N1 virus began to spread easily among people, doctors’ leaders told the House of Lords Science and Technology Committee. Richard Jarvis, a member of the BMA council, said that while the Government’s plans were among the best in the world, they were not sufficient to prevent a public health crisis.
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“The effect on society will lie somewhere between major and catastrophic,” he said.
His warning was reinforced by other senior doctors and nurses, who said that the NHS was ill-equipped to handle the volume of patients that would be struck down by a pandemic strain. Professor David Menon, of the Intensive Care Society, said models suggested that more than twice as many as the existing 3,000 intensive care beds would be needed, adding that 7.5 per cent of patients admitted with bird flu would need intensive care.
General practices would also be overrun and family doctors would be unable even to see thousands of patients complaining of flu symptoms, according to the Royal College of General Practitioners. Professor Nigel Mathers, chairman of the college’s research group, said that a typical practice serving 100,000 people would need to handle 5,000 to 10,000 flu consultations a week at the height of a pandemic.
The bleak picture of Britain’s readiness came as the head of the World Health Organisation’s influenza programme said that efforts to contain the flu at its probable source in South-East Asia were almost certain to fail.
Klaus Stohr said that the WHO’s plans to contain early clusters of human cases, by giving antiviral drugs to everybody who might have had contact with infected people, were unlikely to work. “The challenge of quickly treating 80 per cent of people in areas that may be accessible only by four-wheel drive vehicles is huge,” Dr Stohr told the committee.
Professor Mathers said that dealing with flu patients would stop GPs doing much of their other work, and Professor Menon said that the same would apply to hospitals, which would have to postpone non- urgent operations.
While this would free theatre ventilators for use as extra intensive care beds, there may be insufficient staff to use them.
Lynne Young, of the Royal College of Nursing, said that it might be necessary to fill the gap with retired nurses and those who have recently left the profession.
A chef at a Michelin-starred restaurant has removed everything relating to birds from his menu. Alexis Gauthier, 32, of Roussillon, near Sloane Square, Central London, said: “It is a precaution. We have to feel comfortable that everything we put on is free of danger to our customers.”
13.15 Almuerzo en la cocina
A las 3.15 me fui de la oficina. EN el camino a la parada del bondi me acorde de que tenia que ir a la oficina de la municipalidad a averiguar sobre el Council Tax nuestro.
4.30 GP, me vio el oido y no tengo nada raro, supongo que sera un tapon de cera pero ni atino a sacarmelo, en fin ! la ley del menor esfuerzo los medicos aca !
En casa empece a pasar en word los diarios del 2001 al 2003...
A la noche no hicimos nada. Me fui a la cama tempranito !
