RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Panama’s health system is under the greatest pressure since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic last March, with several major hospitals without enough beds, a local newspaper reported on Thursday, December 3rd.
The increase in cases tests the response to the health crisis, when doctors and nurses show signs of fatigue after nearly nine months of the pandemic and in some places beds are beginning to be scarce to receive positive patients, reported La Prensa newspaper.
Until Thursday, December 3rd, 1,219 patients remained in the hospitals, of which 164 were in intensive care, figures that dangerously reduced the availability of beds, while authorities are looking for alternatives to increase capacities to care Covid-19 patients.
Domingo Moreno, coordinator of the Medical Negotiating Commission, and Ana Reyes, president of the Nurses Association, revealed to the media that the personnel is generally exhausted, and even in the intensive care units the doctors are taking twice as many patients as before the pandemic.
‘They can put in more beds, but if there are no staff and supplies the scenario can become complicated. The pandemic surprised us without intensive care physicians or pneumologists,’ said Moreno, who explained that there are only 30 pulmonologists in the country and most of them work up to 16 hours a day.
The epidemiological report of yesterday’s Health Ministry (MINSA) reported that 2,028 new infections were detected, the highest number in 24 hours, which brings the accumulated number to 170,000, while 16 deaths occurred during this period.