Israel’s Health Ministry warned on Monday that due to the spike in seriously ill coronavirus patients in recent weeks, Israel’s supply of ECMO machines is almost depleted, Ynet reported.

Health Ministry sources warned that if the spike continues, health professionals will be forced to choose who will be attached to the life-saving machines.

“We’re not there yet,” a ministry source said,” but it can happen in the future. We never thought we would have to treat over 40 ECMO patients at the same time but here we are. We’re now reaching our limit.”

A total of 41 coronavirus patients in critical condition were attached to ECMO machines last week alone. While Israel has about 70 machines, another even more vital issue is one of manpower – each machine requires two nurses, a doctor, and a dedicated technologist to operate.

Another issue is the geographic distribution of the machines, with most machines located in the center of the country. Beilinson Hospital in Petach Tikvah has 11 machines and Kaplan Hospital in Rechovot has two, while some hospitals in the north and south have none at all. Recently a coronavirus patient in critical condition had to be transferred from a hospital in the north to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv.

“Given that there will be 2,000 patients in serious condition, we won’t be able to connect everyone who requires it to ECMO machines,” a senior Health Ministry official said.

“We’ll have to consider who is most likely to survive. It’s sad but this is where we are. If the level of infection rises we may need to bring in ethics committees. Even with the current number [of patients] we’re not capable of providing the most optimal level of care.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)