On Thursday, the head of the National Crisis Management Center (NKVC), Vilmantas Vitkauskas, called on the country's medical institutions to step up in preparation for war or emergency situations.
"Of course, there are certain sectors and certain places where we could stretch a little," V. Vitkauskas told LRT radio on Thursday.
According to him, officials analyzed the crisis preparedness of 14 hospitals in the ten largest cities of Lithuania a few months ago.
According to the head of the NKVC, exactly half of their preparation was evaluated positively, and another half - satisfactory.
"So that there is no negative assessment and we could be happy at this point that the minimum need to ensure the operation of the institution for up to 30 days is ensured", said V. Vitkauskas.
Still, the official said, ideally, hospitals should be ready to operate for up to 90 days, and the facilities tested here encountered problems.
According to him, the problems were not only related to the lack of medicine stocks or personal protective equipment, but also, for example, ensuring the food supply.
"Certain institutions have decentralized the food supply, so there is a very high dependence on the food supply chains," the head of the NKVC asserted.
According to V. Vitkauskas, during the inspection of institutions, irregularities were found in preparation for ensuring autonomous electricity supply.
“Every hospital I mentioned has generators, but some only have one and some have twelve. This difference exists", said V. Vitkauskas.
According to him, the Ministry of Health (SAM) has shared the findings of the inspections with each hospital, and approved plans to correct preparedness deficiencies with them.
According to the official, the preparation of hospitals for crises will be financed through the soon-to-be-started Civil Protection program, as well as the appropriations of the Ministry of Health Protection, but the institutions will have to take care of it with their own funds.
V. Vitkauskas said that a medical personnel mobilization system should also be created in Lithuania.
"We know situations when doctors work in several institutions and there must be a central reserve of mobilization personnel, which would be arranged in such a way that every doctor, doctor, medical worker knows where his main place of work is in the event of a situation," asserted the head of the NKVC.
Almost a year ago, the preparation of the health care system for work in war conditions was presented to the National Security and Defense Committee of the Seimas.
The heads of the Ministries of National Defense and Health then claimed that preparations are being made for the threat of war, stocks are being stockpiled, exercises are being carried out, and it is impossible to predict all possible scenarios, but the opposition called the situation catastrophic.
Lithuania began to pay more attention to crisis preparedness after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Author Saulius Jakučionis
