Olomouc, North Moravia, Dec 13 (CTK) – The Teaching Hospital in Olomouc has bought for 3.3 million crowns a special ambulance with a hydraulic stretcher considerably easing manipulation of obese patients as the first health facility in the Czech Republic, hospital spokesman Egon Havrlant told journalists on Wednesday.
Thanks to it, the paramedics will be able to transport them without the help of firefighters or a team of strong men, Havrlant said.
“We are the first hospital in the Czech Republic in which this kind of ambulance car is at its disposal,” Havrlant said.
“We come across patients suffering from morbid obesity about ten times a year,” Michaela Gehrova, the hospital head nurse, said.
“The stretchers from usual ambulances are handled manually, which may be extremely demanding for the paramedics if there is an extreme burden,” she added.
“Only one to two people are needed to handle the new, hydraulic stretcher,” Gehrova said.
Over one half of Czechs suffer from overweight.
Havrlant said roughly 300,000 people suffer from serious obesity, while some of them may weigh even more than 180 or 200 kilograms.
The Olomouc Teaching Hospital is the sixth biggest in the country.
