Table to hospital: More people than usual choked on food this Christmas

Hospital emergency and admission clinics are busy this holiday season. With GP practices closed for the five days, the queues for outpatients are particularly long. But an unusually frequent “illness” this year has been roast pork and gray peas, on which people have choked more than usual, Latvian Television reported on December 25.

Endoscopist Aldis Rutkis uses a special loop under anesthesia to pull out another morsel of meat. On Christmas Day he is on duty at the NMPD Specialized Medical Centre, and he is on the move between the two biggest hospitals – Stradiņš Hospital and Riga East Clinical University Hospital.

Choking happens. But this season, it happened particularly often. Removing each stuck piece means general anesthesia for the patient and a special team of doctors. Several people had to be brought in on Christmas Eve and Day.

Heart attacks were also unusually frequent this holiday season, as well as conditions induced by alcohol use.

“An elderly grandmother, for whom a small dose caused a stroke-like condition. Then young people who drink for several days. We are trying to cope,” said Aleksejs Višņakovs, head of the Eastern Hospital Emergency Medicine Clinic. “Simply drinking alcohol to the point of unconsciousness. Different types of injury. One with a wrist injury while working with a circular saw. Our microsurgeons performed surgery at night.”

Doctors say they have so much work to do thanks to a calendar with so many holidays. GP practices are closed. Their patients are waiting in long queues at reception.

“On Monday we had 225 patients, 130 of whom had come in themselves! Including with viral infections. And the flu epidemic has started in the country. The number of these patients is really increasing,” said Višņakovs.

Patients with influenza and other respiratory viruses fill the isolation wards.

“We used to have ten patients a day on average, now we have 30 and those patients have to be isolated. While we diagnose the causative agent, they are here,” explained the head of the RAKUS Emergency Medicine Clinic. “Type A influenza is prevalent. And the number of these patients is increasing. They come to us already with complications – with pneumonia or intoxication. It is mostly dangerous for immunocompromised patients, the elderly, the unvaccinated, and pregnant women.”