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Source: https://www.panorama.com.ve/mundo/Ho...0530-0032.html
Hospitals in Nicaragua begin to suffer saturation amid pandemic
Hospitals have been forced to return some patients to their homes, at certain times, due to lack of space or personnel.
By: EFE
03:00 PM / 05/30/2020
Public hospitals and some private centers in Nicaragua began to be saturated this week, according to private organizations, amid the covid-19 pandemic, which has infected hundreds of Nicaraguans since last March.
Public care sanatoriums such as the German Nicaraguan Hospital, established as a national reference center for covid-19 cases, as well as others for private care, were forced to return some patients to their homes, at certain times, due to lack of space or personnel that will guarantee your attention.
Among the patients with symptoms of covid-19 who were returned home from a private hospital is journalist Emiliano Chamorro, who is now recovering at home under the care of a doctor.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) has also started treating patients with covid-19 at home, but the authorities do not provide information about it, apart from the general data it presents every Tuesday.
The Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Carlos S?enz, stated last Tuesday, May 26, that a total of 171 people were in "responsible and careful monitoring", in the context of the pandemic.
According to official data, the Sars-CoV-2 virus has spread to 759 people, and has caused 35 deaths. Those data contrast with those of the independent Covid-19 Citizen Observatory, which reports 3,725 patients, and 805 deaths.
This Observatory is made up of hundreds of volunteer health professionals, many of them doctors, who try to collect, order and disseminate the data from their different work centers throughout the country.
Data from Imperial College London, based on official figures, indicate that there is currently a daily average of 264 beds in Nicaragua with patients needing oxygen.
For its part, the Nicaraguan Medical Association insists that hospitals are beginning to collapse.
Reformed hospitals
Although hospitals can still receive patients now, some of the largest in the country, located in the cities of Managua, Le?n, Chinandega or Estel?, have been reformed on more than one occasion since March, to meet the high demand for patients, according to medical sources.
The reforms include personnel changes, since, according to a complaint from the Nicaraguan Medical Association signed by more than 700 doctors, dozens of doctors and health workers have been dismissed or resigned, for having claimed the right to have adequate protection against the new coronavirus, or for not agreeing to abide by the alleged order not to attribute any deaths to the covid-19.
The Archdiocese of Managua, which includes the department (province) of Masaya, the second city with the most cases of covid-19 detected by the Citizen Observatory, has expressed its concern for the immediate future.
"With the people of God we look uneasily towards the uncertain future that hangs over our country, both in the economic field and in the health field," said the Archdiocese, in a message addressed to the Catholic faithful, who represent 58, 5% of the 6.4 million Nicaraguans, according to official figures.
The statistical model of the Imperial College, endorsed by Nicaraguan epidemiologists, shows that, by June 10, even with the data provided by the Government of Nicaragua, the country will record a daily average of 28,946 infections, and 1,389 beds will be necessary to attend every day to patients who need oxygen, twice as many as the Ministry of Health claims it currently has.
A matter of strategy
Members of the Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee, made up of experts in medicine and other scientific branches, have insisted that the only way to avoid this situation is by changing the government strategy that, according to President Daniel Ortega, consists of not stopping the economy.
The Nicaraguan government's plan, which the authorities describe as "unique" and compares it with Sweden, consists of not putting restrictions and applying minimum social prevention measures without preventing the crowds.
This plan has been criticized by local medical organizations, but has also caused concern in the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) that have requested to enter Nicaragua to assess the situation, as well as the Organization of American States (OAS), which have had no response.
For their part, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have called on Ortega to guarantee the right to health, also without receiving a response.
Meanwhile, the lines established by the Government and by volunteer doctors to assist people with symptoms of covid-19 by telephone are kept busy.
Hospitals in Nicaragua begin to suffer saturation amid pandemic
Hospitals have been forced to return some patients to their homes, at certain times, due to lack of space or personnel.
By: EFE
03:00 PM / 05/30/2020
Public hospitals and some private centers in Nicaragua began to be saturated this week, according to private organizations, amid the covid-19 pandemic, which has infected hundreds of Nicaraguans since last March.
Public care sanatoriums such as the German Nicaraguan Hospital, established as a national reference center for covid-19 cases, as well as others for private care, were forced to return some patients to their homes, at certain times, due to lack of space or personnel that will guarantee your attention.
Among the patients with symptoms of covid-19 who were returned home from a private hospital is journalist Emiliano Chamorro, who is now recovering at home under the care of a doctor.
The Ministry of Health (Minsa) has also started treating patients with covid-19 at home, but the authorities do not provide information about it, apart from the general data it presents every Tuesday.
The Secretary General of the Ministry of Health, Carlos S?enz, stated last Tuesday, May 26, that a total of 171 people were in "responsible and careful monitoring", in the context of the pandemic.
According to official data, the Sars-CoV-2 virus has spread to 759 people, and has caused 35 deaths. Those data contrast with those of the independent Covid-19 Citizen Observatory, which reports 3,725 patients, and 805 deaths.
This Observatory is made up of hundreds of volunteer health professionals, many of them doctors, who try to collect, order and disseminate the data from their different work centers throughout the country.
Data from Imperial College London, based on official figures, indicate that there is currently a daily average of 264 beds in Nicaragua with patients needing oxygen.
For its part, the Nicaraguan Medical Association insists that hospitals are beginning to collapse.
Reformed hospitals
Although hospitals can still receive patients now, some of the largest in the country, located in the cities of Managua, Le?n, Chinandega or Estel?, have been reformed on more than one occasion since March, to meet the high demand for patients, according to medical sources.
The reforms include personnel changes, since, according to a complaint from the Nicaraguan Medical Association signed by more than 700 doctors, dozens of doctors and health workers have been dismissed or resigned, for having claimed the right to have adequate protection against the new coronavirus, or for not agreeing to abide by the alleged order not to attribute any deaths to the covid-19.
The Archdiocese of Managua, which includes the department (province) of Masaya, the second city with the most cases of covid-19 detected by the Citizen Observatory, has expressed its concern for the immediate future.
"With the people of God we look uneasily towards the uncertain future that hangs over our country, both in the economic field and in the health field," said the Archdiocese, in a message addressed to the Catholic faithful, who represent 58, 5% of the 6.4 million Nicaraguans, according to official figures.
The statistical model of the Imperial College, endorsed by Nicaraguan epidemiologists, shows that, by June 10, even with the data provided by the Government of Nicaragua, the country will record a daily average of 28,946 infections, and 1,389 beds will be necessary to attend every day to patients who need oxygen, twice as many as the Ministry of Health claims it currently has.
A matter of strategy
Members of the Multidisciplinary Scientific Committee, made up of experts in medicine and other scientific branches, have insisted that the only way to avoid this situation is by changing the government strategy that, according to President Daniel Ortega, consists of not stopping the economy.
The Nicaraguan government's plan, which the authorities describe as "unique" and compares it with Sweden, consists of not putting restrictions and applying minimum social prevention measures without preventing the crowds.
This plan has been criticized by local medical organizations, but has also caused concern in the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) that have requested to enter Nicaragua to assess the situation, as well as the Organization of American States (OAS), which have had no response.
For their part, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) have called on Ortega to guarantee the right to health, also without receiving a response.
Meanwhile, the lines established by the Government and by volunteer doctors to assist people with symptoms of covid-19 by telephone are kept busy.