{"id":116896,"date":"2021-04-02T15:43:56","date_gmt":"2021-04-02T07:43:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=116896"},"modified":"2021-04-02T15:43:58","modified_gmt":"2021-04-02T07:43:58","slug":"covid-19-overwhelms-icus-in-syrian-capital","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=116896","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19 overwhelms ICUs in Syrian capital"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"\/<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

DAMASCUS, April 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Inside the emergency room of a hospital of the Syrian capital, an elderly woman with Covid-19 waited for a bed at an intensive care unit packed with coronavirus patients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting on a wheelchair barely an arms-length from another patient, the
woman in her seventies tilted her head back as a doctor wedged between them covered her face with an oxygen mask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe receive many cases who need a ventilator, and there are many patients
who need intensive care,\u201d said the doctor, Asma Sbayni of Mouwasat Hospital, one of the largest in Damascus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUnfortunately, there are many critical cases who die in front of us\u2026 We
can\u2019t do anything for them\u201d the 26-year-old said, only her eyes visible
beneath a veil and two masks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In mid-March, a health ministry official said intensive care units (ICUs)
dedicated to coronavirus patients had reached full capacity across the
capital for the first time since coronavirus swept into Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The latest virus surge which many are referring to as a \u201cthird wave\u201d has
overwhelmed hospitals to the extent that Covid-19 patients are being
transferred outside the city for treatment, according to the health ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities have responded by urging compliance with safety measures but
stopped short of imposing a strict lockdown, which could aggravate Syria\u2019s
economic crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jotting down vitals on a small note pad, Sbayni said she had already
attended to at least 10 Covid-19 patients that day with more expected to
follow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSometimes we get more than 40 Covid-19 cases per day and this is more than we can handle,\u201d she said, an oximeter tied around her neck.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government has recorded 19,000 Covid-19 cases, including more than
1,200 deaths, in the two thirds of war-battered Syria under its control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the real number is likely higher especially due to limited testing
capacity and the prevalence of asymptomatic cases, according to the United
Nations humanitarian coordination office, OCHA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sitting inside his office at Mouwasat hospital, director Issam al-Amin said
official figures are based only on PCR test results filed by hospitals and
travellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSyria is besieged and at war, it does not have a large amount of testing
kits,\u201d he said, clad in a white lab coat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The doctor said \u201conly the most serious cases\u201d are admitted to hospital,
with \u201cdozens\u201d treated at home under the supervision of medical professionals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have not yet reached a virus peak,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But \u201cwe are receiving more cases than yesterday, and yesterday we received more cases than the day before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 650 health workers have themselves contracted the virus,
including 29 who have died, the World Health Organization and OCHA said in a joint statement last month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has further compromised the \u201coverstretched capacity\u201d of Syria\u2019s
\u201cfragile healthcare system\u201d, it warned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The government said it started vaccinating frontline health workers at the
end of February after receiving doses from an unidentified \u201cfriendly
country\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It said 2,500 frontline workers would be covered, but Syria, under war-
related sanctions, is still waiting to launch a general vaccination campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syria has signed on to the Covax initiative to procure enough jabs to cover
20 percent of the population by the end of the year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But a first shipment of the AstraZeneca vaccine which was due in April has
been delayed, \u201cat least till May\u201d, WHO Syria representative Akjemal Magtymova said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a very regrettable situation\u2026 I am worried,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate statement last week, WHO said the production of AstraZeneca
vaccines was \u201cinsufficient to meet the global demand, resulting in delays\u201d to
Syria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Mouwasat hospital, Doctor Ali Rostom rejoiced at the recovery of one
Covid-19 patient.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then instructed a nursing crew to sterilise the patient\u2019s bed so someone
else could have a fighting \u201cchance for survival\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe virus is spreading at a very fast rate and the number of new cases has
grown explosively,\u201d said the doctor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After wrapping up a meeting with colleagues, Doctor Bassam Quaider said the facility\u2019s intensive care unit was \u201cnever unoccupied\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are always people putting their names down on waiting lists,\u201d he
added, as an ambulance siren announced the arrival of another patient. — NNN-AGENCIES<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAMASCUS, April 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Inside the emergency room of a hospital of the Syrian capital, an elderly woman with Covid-19 waited for a bed at an intensive care unit packed with coronavirus patients. Sitting on a wheelchair barely an arms-length from another patient, thewoman in her seventies tilted her head back as a doctor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":116897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[217],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116896"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=116896"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/116896\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/116897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=116896"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=116896"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=116896"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}