RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Argentina’s President Alberto Fernandez on Thursday, February 11th, unveiled a series of new modular healthcare centers at 19 tourism resorts to treat the novel coronavirus disease.
“Argentines have once and for all understood the importance of public healthcare just when the pandemic hit us,” Fernandez said via videoconference at the presentation of the project.
According to a statement from the president’s office, “with an investment of more than 2.8 billion pesos (about US$31.65 million), these healthcare units will be dedicated to the emergency care and primary care of patients with COVID-19 symptoms.”
Designed to expand the capacity of the country’s public healthcare system, the new centers “have all the necessary equipment … and they are ready and prepared to deal with the pandemic, and once the coronavirus goes away, to continue strengthening the healthcare system,” Minister of Public Works Gabriel Katopodis said.
Each facility, built with prefabricated residential units fitted with all the necessary medical features, includes an isolation area, nine beds, laboratory, x-ray equipment, transport ventilator, resuscitators and ambulance, as well as pharmacy and staff rooms, state news agency Telam said.
Argentina registered its first case of COVID-19 on March 3, and has reported 2,001,034 cases of infection and 49,674 deaths from the disease as of February 10th. A general lockdown is in place through February 28th to prevent further spread of the virus.