'You can't clone us': Polish doctors cry for help as COVID deaths spike

Medical staff members treat a patient inside the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) intensive care ward at the Stefan Zeromski hospital in Krakow, Poland, April 14, 2021. REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

KRAKOW, Poland (Reuters) - When the pandemic began last year, Kinga Szlachcic-Wyroba, an anaesthesiologist in the Stefan Zeromski Specialist Hospital in Krakow, Poland, had to manage one COVID-19 patient and 10 others in intensive care with three other doctors.

Now the third wave has hit Poland and the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care stands at 17, with just four non-COVID sufferers. Around 80% of the COVID patients are expected to die.