“We expect to add another 350 (beds) within the next two weeks,” he said.
According to an aggressive second wave, Peru passed 40,000 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, according to data released by the country’s health ministry.
Infections are also on the rise – in the past month alone, about 100,000 new cases have been reported – while officials warn of burnt-out doctors and overwhelming intensive care units.
Not enough
Alicia Abanto, an official at the Ombudsman’s office in Peru, told CNN that Sagasti’s announcement was a good step in the midst of the aggressive second wave, but it probably wouldn’t be enough.
She explained that 1,829 of the 1,931 ICU beds in Peru are currently occupied. “There are only 102 beds available across the country, and that figure is not enough for a country with 25 regions,” Abanto said.
Some regions have no ICU beds available, while at least 16 regions have less than three beds available for incoming patients. “These are regions that can cover 1 million people,” Abanto added.
The shortages could soon force doctors into painful choices. Dr. Rosa Luz López oversees the ICU at Guillermo Almenara Hospital in Lima. Her team decides which patient gets an ICU bed when one is available.
“You’re doing what you can … it’s, it’s like tossing a coin,” she told CNN.
So far, they have managed to triple the number of beds in her unit, but López says that will not be enough.
Meanwhile, Jesus Valverde, president of the Association of Intensive Medicine and a doctor at Dos de Mayo Hospital in Lima, told CNN he asked health officials not to add more beds because there are not enough doctors to do so. to cover.
Doctors are too thin across the country, he says.
All 50 beds in his hospital’s ICU beds are occupied and his colleagues are “exhausted, tired, sick,” he says.
Nationwide, it is ideal to need 1,250 doctors to cover more than 1,800 occupied ICU beds, he said. Instead, the country’s “600 doctors work double or triple to cover this shortfall.”
Last week, a handful of Peruvian medics went on a hunger strike to demand more investment in the country’s health sector.
Amid growing criticism, President Sagasti said on Tuesday that Peruvian residents would expect the first million doses of China’s Synopharm vaccine in the next few days.
The vaccination has yet to be approved by Peruvian regulators, but Sagasti said the government plans to launch the vaccination campaign in February with health workers in the first place to get the vaccinations.
The Peruvian government also concluded two other agreements with Sinopharm for half a million doses in February and 1.5 million doses in March, he said.