Article content
Among people infected with the new type of coronavirus Covid-19 are people of different sexes and ages. One of the patients, who is in home quarantine, is a 22-year-old young woman who remembers the onset of the illness with great bitterness. Erika recounted the harsh truth about why the dreadful respiratory disease is spreading so uncontrollably rapidly.
The nations of the world have miraculously united in recent weeks with the goal of defeating the invisible enemy called the coronavirus.
The sad fact, however, remains that the vast majority of government officials are forced to improvise hastily, since our generation has no prior experience with a pandemic of global proportions.
A particularly dire situation has arisen in healthcare. Besides the fact that doctors must deal daily with a shortage of protective equipment and a growing number of patients, their reactions sometimes do not seem to be adequate to the seriousness of the situation. Several infected people likewise reported that doctors initially downplayed their medical condition and even sent them home by public transport so they could just “ride out” the “flu” in bed.
After the young woman working in Austria learned that her good friend had tested positive for Covid-19, she immediately registered herself with the relevant authorities. However, the approach of the local specialists she encountered was far from observing any safety. An Austrian district doctor, after a careless throat examination, sent her home saying she only had an ordinary flu.
Request for testing unanswered
When Erika’s breathing problems began to escalate, she rushed to the emergency room, but even there she got nowhere. She eventually had to see another doctor, who finally took a blood sample. “All the doctors knew before entering the clinic that I had been in Slovakia in contact with a friend who has similar problems to mine and is lying in the hospital awaiting results, but nobody cared,” says Erika, who had to run around three clinics before she finally reached a responsible approach.
During those days she could have infected an unknown number of unsuspecting people without being fully aware of the huge risk, because the healthcare workers she trusted did not consider her condition worthy of increased attention. On the other hand, it should be emphasized that people with suspicious symptoms should primarily make sure to contact the doctor’s office by phone before actually entering, although getting through to the recommended numbers in this period is becoming an increasingly difficult matter.
“So I ask, how does the Austrian healthcare system work when three doctors send you home saying you have the flu, the next day your results are positive and since then no doctor contacts you or inquires about your health? If you want them to come and check on you, you have to dial about 10 phone numbers, each one transfers you to someone else, and when you finally reach the right number, the doctor asks you three times whether you really want them to come and check on you,” ponders the 22-year-old infected woman, who was involuntarily sent by several doctors into a 14-day quarantine, which also significantly complicates the current situation in hospitals.
