Regions lack medical care as virus progresses

Covid-19 cases increased in areas that, until a few weeks ago, did not register as many. This has alerted the populations of the regions of Peru, putting them in a greater state of emergency due to the lack of doctors in those sectors.

In Puno, the deaths of 17 people were recorded in a single day, while in Cusco hospitals collapsed. Also, in the province of Cajamarca, there is no longer care. It is estimated that the official number of deaths confirmed by the Health Ministry (Minsa) exceeded 20 thousand.

The Puno region is one of the regions that, for a few weeks, has registered an increase in the number of infected and dead by the coronavirus. With this severity experienced by this region, even health personnel have had to be evacuated to Lima. On the other hand, some doctors and nurses remain afraid of getting it.

“You talk to a patient at a certain time and when you return he is already dead. I never imagined living this: seeing several people die in a single day from lack of oxygen. Nor did I imagine that they would say to me: ‘I can no longer, doctor, help me,’ ”says Roberto Mayta, a doctor at Hospital III de EsSalud in Puno.

At the Manuel Núñez Butrón hospital in Puno, where the director resigned a week after taking office, 70% of the doctors are licensed and the rest are infected or in danger of becoming infected. A few days ago, in the same place, the nurses started a protest demanding the closure of the hospital. “We are falling a few. It hurts us too to see a person die. And we don’t even have the conditions of personal protection. We are at risk, we see people die and, what is worse, we run that risk ”, adds Rosa Quispe, leader of the nurses of said hospital.

To this, it is added that a few days ago the leader of the Covid-19 command of the region and the Carlos Monge Medrano hospital in Juliaca, Freddy Velásquez, tested positive for the coronavirus. Given this, the regional dean of the Medical College, Midwar Mengoa Herrera, asked the central government to send health personnel, equipment, medicines, and, above all, an oxygen plant.

Despite the return of the quarantine in the provinces of San Román and Puno, the lack of coordination between the regional and central governments caused that the situation in the region will not improve. Evidence of this is reflected in the numbers of coronavirus cases. According to the Regional Health Directorate (Diresa) of Puno, in this region, 218 people died and 4,886 are infected by the virus. However, the Situational Room Covid-19 of the Minsa, affirms that the numbers are lower: 2,581 cases and 83 deaths.

«The figures reported by the Diresa, compared to what the Minsa gives in the COVID room, are almost double, although in both cases the curves are steep. When are we going to carry out sanitary actions that reverse this curve? Asks Miguel Palacios Celi, dean of the Medical College of Peru.

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