“We hope to add another 350 (beds) in the next two weeks,” he said.
A second aggressive wave saw Peru surpass 40,000 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, according to data released by the country’s Ministry of Health.
Infections are also on the rise – with about 100,000 new cases registered in the past month alone – as authorities warn of exhausted doctors and overburdened intensive care wards.
Insufficient
Alicia Abanto, an employee of the Peruvian Ombudsman, told CNN that Sagasti’s announcement was a good step in the middle of the second aggressive wave, but it probably won’t be enough.
She explained that 1,829 of Peru’s 1,931 ICU beds in the country are occupied. “There are only 102 beds available across the country, and this number is not enough for a country with 25 regions,” said Abanto.
Some regions do not have ICU beds available, while at least 16 regions have less than three beds available for incoming patients. “These are regions that can reach 1 million people,” added Abanto.
The shortage may soon force doctors to make painful choices. Dr. Rosa Luz López supervises the ICU at the Hospital Guillermo Almenara in Lima. Your team decides which patient will receive a bed in the ICU, when one is available.
“You’re doing what you can … that’s it, it’s like tossing a coin,” she told CNN.
So far, they have managed to triple the number of beds in his unit, but López says it will not be enough.
Meanwhile, Jesus Valverde, president of the Society of Intensive Care Medicine and doctor at Dos de Mayo hospital in Lima, told CNN that he asked health officials not to add more beds – because there are not enough doctors to cover them.
Doctors are overwhelmed across the country, he says.
All 50 ICU beds in his hospital are occupied and his colleagues are “exhausted, tired, sick,” he says.
Across the country, covering more than 1,800 occupied ICU beds, 1,250 doctors would be ideal, he said. Instead, the “600 doctors in the country are working double or triple shifts to cover this deficit”.
Last week, a handful of Peruvian doctors went on a hunger strike to demand more investment in the country’s health sector.
Amid mounting criticism, President Sagasti said on Tuesday that Peruvians should expect the first million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine to arrive in the next few days.
The vaccine has not yet been approved by Peruvian regulators, but Sagasti said the government plans to start the vaccination campaign in February, with health professionals getting the vaccines first.
The Peruvian government also struck two other deals with Sinopharm for half a million doses in February and 1.5 million doses in March, he said.