Hospitals in Central Jutland are responsible for every fourth reported occupational injury about covid-19.
It was in mid-March that the hospital employee first noticed the incipient symptoms.
At the time, the staff of the Infectious Diseases Department had already admitted many seriously ill patients with covid-19 disease.
But one particular episode in particular is clearly in the employee’s memory, shows a decision on recognized work injury, which DR News has been given access to.
“From the beginning of March 2020 and for about a couple of weeks onwards, you have treated patients with covid-19 symptoms, both with and without a mask. Among other things, you have treated a patient with a mask who has been in the epidemic area and who has coughed you several times. directly in the face “, writes Arbejdsmarkedets Erhvervssikring (AES) in its recognition of the injury.
Hundreds of reviews
The anonymised case from Arbejdsmarkedets Erhvervssikring is far from the only one.
Working with patients and the elderly around hospitals, nursing homes and in the rest of society has since the end of April spawned several hundred reports of work-related injuries that employees believe may be related to corona.
In particular, at three regional hospitals in Central Jutland, figures for reviews are very high. Hospitals in the Central Jutland Region account for more than one in four of the reported corona-related occupational injuries.
The staff at the regional hospitals in Herning, Holstebro and Viborg have been hard hit by covid-19 infection. Therefore, it is natural that there are now many reports of possible occupational injuries, says medical director of several of the hospitals in the Central Jutland Region Jens Friis Bak.
We have been hit quite hard, and of course it has also led to a larger number of reports of occupational injuries. We have told the affected staff that if they were convinced that it was an infection contracted in the workplace, then we encouraged them to report it, he says.
