The need for ICU beds has grown over the years, especially with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many hospitals are ill-equipped for such health crisis as most have few or no ICU beds to cater to an ailing population. Italy, for example, has 12.5 ICU beds per capita, yet the pandemic hardest hit it.
China followed closely with an ICU bed per capita of 3.6, while India had 2.3 ICU beds per 100,000 people. It only shows the dire need for countries to re-evaluate their ICU bed capacity. Here’s a roundup of the ICU beds per capita by country. What is ICU?
ICU is an acronym for Intensive Care Unit. It was established during the Second World War to care for wounded soldiers during the war. Hospitals have since adopted the model of equipping their ICUs with special equipment to treat patients with life-threatening conditions. Ordinarily, only a few beds are assigned to ICUs, but the need is manifold during pandemics.
Note that ICUs have varying definitions depending on the country and its health needs. In the USA, for example, ICUs are defined by the staffing availability, while in Belgian the patients’ characteristics define ICU units.
ICU Beds Capacity per Capita by Country
According to data collected in 2012, the ICU bed capacity varies significantly by country. Countries like the United States of America and Germany have significantly higher capacities. The following table provides a brief overview:
ICU Bed per 100,000 People
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United States — 34.7
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Germany — 29.2
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Luxembourg — 24.8
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Romania — 21.4
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Austria — 21.8
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Croatia — 14.7
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Italy — 12.5
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Spain — 9.7
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France — 11.6
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South Korea — 10.6
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Japan — 7.3
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United Kingdom — 6.6
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Finland — 6.1
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Slovenia — 6.4
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Portugal — 4.2
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New Zealand — 5.5
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Sweden — 5.8
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Ireland — 6.5
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Netherlands — 6.4
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Iceland — 9.1
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Norway — 8
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Poland — 6.9
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Switzerland — 11
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Denmark — 6.7
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Cyprus — 11.4
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Hungary — 13.8
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Lithuania — 15.5
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Estonia — 14.6
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Bulgaria — 12.2
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Czech Republic — 11.6
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China — 3.6
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India — 2.3
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Trinidad — 2.1
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Sri Lanka — 1.6
Are Countries with High ICU Bed Capacity Well-equipped for a Pandemic?
The USA remains the best equipped with ICU beds. Even so, many hospitals were ill-equipped to handle patients during the last pandemic. Most of them were overcrowded, leaving patients scrambling for ventilators and medical attention. The staff was also overstretched, leaving them to attend to more patients and work longer hours.
Germany’s health system was more prepared for the pandemic thanks to the high number of hospitals. Within the first few weeks of the pandemic, the hospitals increased the ICU beds to 40,000, which was more than twice of most other countries.
In addition, there was no shortage of ventilation equipment as in the USA. Germany increased their ventilation equipment from 20,000-30,000 to prepare for a spike in critical patients. Such precautions significantly curbed Germany’s death rate compared to Spain or France, where the death rate was 10% and 13%, respectively, in March and April.
On the other hand, China’s health system was brought to a breaking point. With an ICU bed capacity of 3.6 per 100,000 people, many hospitals resulted in building makeshift hospitals to provide more ICU beds.