Facing new COVID wave, Dutch delay care for cancer, heart patients

FILE PHOTO: Medics treat a patient infected with COVID-19, in the intensive care unit at Maastricht UMC Hospital in Maastricht, Netherlands, November 10, 2020. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch healthcare officials said on Friday they have begun delaying operations for some cancer and heart patients to free up space in intensive care units during a record wave of COVID-19 infections.

"These are cancer patients that should actually be operated on within six weeks of diagnosis, and that won't be met in all cases. It's also heart patients," said a spokesperson for LCPS, the national organisation that allocates hospital resources.