The General University Hospital on Charles Square in Prague received a very welcome and useful gift - an ultrasound device worth almost 220,000 crowns. The gift was presented to the head of the pulmonary department, Jiří Votruba, by actor Jiří Bartoška. The ultrasound will be a great help, particularly for coronavirus patients, as it is able to identify the disease at an early stage.
The device is very easily portable and wireless, thus speeding up the work of doctors and simplifying it. Even Jiří Bartoška commented on the unexpected miniature size of this big device, saying that it looked more like a video game.
The biggest advantage of the SONON pulmonary ultrasound is the aforementioned wirelessness, which makes things a lot easier for both doctors and patients, especially at a time when we are in the middle of a pandemic crisis, but also outside it.
“We have the experience that for covid patients, the most problematic is changing devices at the bedside. And if you change the device too often, you can cause cross-contamination. That means you can infect someone else. That's why we needed a device that doesn't need wires, with wireless information management,"
says the head of the pulmonary department Jiří Votruba. The ultrasound will be used for patients who have problems with pneumonia, especially covid patients. However, it will also help those who suffer from lung cancer.
The head of the pulmonary department Votruba also praises the ultrasound's excellent portability. The device easily fits into a lab coat. That means that doctors will be able to immediately find out what is going on in the patient's chest, while the patient is resting in his own bed.
"When as they bring us a patient with a big problem, and it is obvious that it's really a major complication, we will do a quick sonography and that will give us an overview of whether the patient has a severe case of covid,"
Theatre and film actor and president of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, Jiří Bartoška, admitted during the presentation that the ultrasound looked more like a video game for teenagers, and commented on the situation around charity in the Czech Republic.
"Charity is a great thing. Sometimes I feel that the state relies too much on charity to resolve the situation in its stead. Charity provides fast help, and most importantly it aids people who often wouldn't get help and understanding otherwise,”
said Jiří Bartoška, who is currently working with his team on preparations for the 55th Karlovy Vary Film Festival, which has been pushed to August this year.
Every year, up to 5,500 patients die of lung cancer - let's prevent at least part of these cases thanks to early diagnosis! At this time, helping the sick is more important than ever. If you know of a person or hospital in need of help, write to us in the comments below the article.