Oxygen Stock Depleted in Manaus Hospitals; Patients Dying of Asphyxiation

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the new explosion of Covid cases in Amazonas, the oxygen stock ran out in several hospitals in Manaus this Thursday, January 14th, causing the death of hospitalized patients by asphyxia, according to doctors who work in the capital of Amazonas state. The federal government announced it will transfer patients to other states.

The Getúlio Vargas University Hospital, linked to the Federal University of Amazonas (UFAM), was left approximately four hours without supply on Thursday morning, which caused distress among professionals, according to a doctor at the facility who chose to remain anonymous.

“Colleagues lost patients in the ICU due to lack of oxygen. They still tried to manually ventilate them, but it was only a last resort, because it is unfeasible to sustain this for a long time. It is very tiring, you have to take turns with the staff. They called residents to help with manual ventilation. You feel like crying all the time. You see a patient dying in front of you and you can’t do anything. It’s like watching yourself in a war and having no weapons to fight,” he said.

Several reports circulating on social networks show that the situation is critical and hundreds of hospitalized patients are at risk of dying. “Getúlio Vargas is out of oxygen and all patients are being manually ventilated. If anyone can help take turns in the ICU on the fifth floor, please, we need them,” says a doctor in an alert on social media and confirmed by professionals working in the hospital.

According to the doctor, Getúlio Vargas received a few oxygen cylinders at around noon, but it was estimated that they would be enough for only two hours.

According to reports from other healthcare professionals in the city on social media, most hospitals are experiencing the same problem. There is record of lack of supplies in the hospitals Fundação de Medicina Tropical (Tropical Medicine Foundation) and in the emergency services (SPAs) of the capital of Amazonas.

Prosecutor Caio Dessa Cyrino, who had a son hospitalized at the Fundação de Medicina Tropical Hospital, said that in the morning there was no oxygen for any of the patients. “My daughter-in-law called me at 5 AM, when she was there to visit him, warning that it had ended. He was in the ICU for the third day and improving. Luckily I had an oxygen bottle at home and ran to the hospital to take it to him. When I got there with the bottle in my hand, I saw the doctors and staff’s look of despair. They were in shock, unable to do anything”.

Cyrino says that his 36-year-old son began to feel unwell almost two weeks ago, but at first he was unable to find a vacancy in the hospital and was left in home care, so he had oxygen. “This is a war zone. And this irresponsible government didn’t plan for the war, although it knew it would happen,” he said.

He managed to hire an airborne ICU and would transfer his son to São Paulo this afternoon. “I managed to do this, but how many hundreds can’t do it and may die today?”

Even facilities that have not yet reached the end of their stock are experiencing shortages, such as ER Pronto-Socorro 28. An emergency doctor at the facility, Diemerson Silva says the demand for oxygen has escalated with the increase in hospitalizations by Covid-19 in the past seven days.

“The hospital is supplied daily, according to need, but over the past week there was a greater need and, with this dimension, we had to make rational use of oxygen,” he explains. “What has happened is that there is an increase in demand and, unfortunately, a decrease in supply”.

Silva says that the hospital has at least one hundred patients this Thursday, among wards and intensive care unit, needing oxygen. “At the moment, we don’t have patients with no oxygen, but we don’t have enough to supply everyone. Many patients are coming in each hour and we don’t know for how long we will be able to supply these many people”.

According to him, there was a meeting this morning among the crisis cabinet members and now the hospital is waiting for supplies from other states.

According to Marcellus Campêllo, Amazonas State Health Secretary, the companies supplying oxygen collapsed because they were unable to meet the demand, which doubled compared to the first peak of the pandemic, between April and May.

“At the first peak, maximum consumption was 30,000 cubic meters of oxygen and, at this time, we are consuming over 70,000 cubic meters. The number more than doubled compared to last year’s peak. Last night we were advised of the collapse of the logistics plan with respect to some deliveries that would be supplying the city of Manaus, which will cause an interruption of schedules for a few hours,” he said.

Patients must be transferred to other states

With the collapse of its hospital network, Amazonas must transfer its patients to other states. The plan is for at least 750 people to be assisted in several other cities.

Earlier, in a press conference, Governor Wilson Lima stated that Amazonas is experiencing “the most critical moment of the pandemic, something unprecedented”. Last year, the state’s health and funeral systems collapsed.

The federal government will assist patients’ transfer in military aircraft. The national secretary of Specialized Health Care, Franco Duarte, said that “moderate” patients will be transferred, who require oxygen, but are still able to be moved.

“This early morning we established a cooperation plan for five or six other states, in addition to Goiás, which was already agreed upon, for the transfer of patients whom we consider to be in a moderate state. Patients who are dependent on oxygen, but who can be safely transported,” said Duarte.

The Secretary attributed the rapid explosion of cases in Manaus to the new variant identified in people who visited the city. “The State of Amazonas does indeed have a variant, we know that this variant is faster and hence this sharp curve rise. The major cause behind our oxygen shortages was the differentiated activity due to the novel coronavirus variant,” he said.

He said that although the current daily demand for oxygen is over 70,000 cubic meters, suppliers in the capital are able to deliver only 28,000 cubic meters of oxygen.

Vice President Hamilton Mourão announced this Thursday afternoon that Brazilian Air Force (FAB) planes will fly over eight tons of hospital supplies to Manaus, including beds, oxygen cylinders, stretchers and tents.

With a new peak of Covid-19, burials in Manaus have multiplied fivefold in one month.
On Wednesday, January 13th, 198 burials occurred in the capital, of which 87 were confirmed for Covid-19 and seven were suspected cases. On December 13th there were 36 deaths, six positive for the virus. This represents an increase of 450%.

The growth is also repeated in home deaths, which have quadrupled. On December 13th, six were registered by the municipal administration, a number that rose to 26 on January 13th.

With the increase in burials, two cold storage chambers were installed by the municipal administration and began operating on Thursday at the Nossa Senhora Aparecida public cemetery. They are intended for the temporary storage of up to 60 caskets.