A specialist has warned that hospitals need to spruce up with infrastructure that is capable of handling the increasing load of overweight patients requiring emergency care. There appears to be immense complexities involved in accommodating such patients, which needs to be addressed without delay.
Dr Peter Grant, a senior staff specialist at St George Hospital said, "Emergency departments and primary care providers must prepare for a more frequent need to care for massively obese patients. Too often these people will show up and they have to start their treatment on the floor because the beds can't handle their weight. These people used to be extremely uncommon and now we're seeing several. Each hospital needs to invest in a $100,000 heavy-duty bed as well as lifting equipment and specially designed wheelchairs."It is also imperative to train the staff adequately to take care of the needs of such patients, even during crucial surgery or during diagnostic intervention using hi-tech machines.
Source-Medindia
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