{"id":83024,"date":"2020-07-11T14:44:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-11T06:44:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=83024"},"modified":"2020-07-11T14:45:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-11T06:45:41","slug":"covid-19-panama-hospitals-on-verge-of-collapse-as-cases-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/?p=83024","title":{"rendered":"Covid-19: Panama hospitals on verge of collapse as cases surge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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PANAMA CITY, July 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hospitals in Panama are on the brink of collapse as coronavirus cases spike in the Central American country worst hit by the pandemic, where doctors are already exhausted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a population of four million, Panama has gone from 200 cases a day to 1,100 over the last few weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOur daily number of infected patients has been increasing in a sustained way to the point of passing 1,000 cases,\u201d David Villalobos, head of the intensive care unit at the Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital in Panama City, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are no hospitals that could sustain such a number,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The sharp increase has forced authorities to adapt existing hospitals and look for new spaces, like convention centers, to boost a health system with a range of problems including long waiting lists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fear of the collapse of the public system in our country is evident if the number of cases remains the same,\u201d Domingo Moreno, coordinator of a coalition of healthcare workers\u2019 unions, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn the next two weeks we probably won\u2019t have anywhere to put beds.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 42,000 cases and 839 deaths, Panama has the worst official tally of coronavirus infections in the region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to official figures, close to 20,000 people are in isolation at home or in hotels. Another 1,000 are receiving hospital treatment, 159 of whom are in intensive care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Authorities estimate that of every 100 people infected, 20 end up in hospital \u2014 meaning that at the current rate, 200 people a day are being admitted to hospital, and 50 to intensive care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exhausting, sometimes we have to go back at night for admissions. But here we are,\u201d Giselle Sanchez, a doctor caring for the most serious COVID-19 patients, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doctors and nurses around the country have protested in recent weeks demanding medical supplies and protective equipment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s fear of infection, of being in a situation that puts your life at risk. This is a war of attrition,\u201d said Moreno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Laurentino Cortizo recently pledged to carry out 4,000 tests a day to find and isolate those infected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Health Minister Francisco Sucre said he was aware of a significant group of people continuing to go out despite knowing they had contracted COVID-19, making it harder to get the outbreak under control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe are directly dependent on what the people can do or prevent in the street. The people really need to understand that we\u2019re going to collapse,\u201d said Malena Urrutia, from the COVID-19 coordination team at the Arnulfo Arias Madrid Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cortizo said: \u201cAs president I would like to tell you that it\u2019s over, but it isn\u2019t. We still don\u2019t have a vaccine. The battle goes on.\u201d — NNN-AGENCIES
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PANAMA CITY, July 11 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Hospitals in Panama are on the brink of collapse as coronavirus cases spike in the Central American country worst hit by the pandemic, where doctors are already exhausted. With a population of four million, Panama has gone from 200 cases a day to 1,100 over the last few weeks. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":83027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[208],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83024"}],"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=83024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/83027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=83024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=83024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/namnewsnetwork.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=83024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}