“We expect to add an additional 350 (beds) in the next two weeks,” he said.
An aggressive second wave saw Peru passed 40,000 Covid-19 deaths on Tuesday, according to data released by the country’s Ministry of Health.
Infections are also exploding – with around 100,000 new cases in the last month alone – as officials warn of burnt out doctors and overwhelmed intensive care units.
Not enough
Alicia Abanto, an official with the Peruvian Ombudsman, told CNN that Sagasti’s announcement was a good step in the midst of the aggressive second wave, but it probably won’t be enough.
She explained that 1,829 of the 1,931 ICU beds in Peru are currently occupied. “There are only 102 beds available across the country, and this figure is not enough for a country with 25 regions,” Abanto said.
IC beds are not available in some regions, while fewer than three beds are available for incoming patients in at least 16 regions. “These are regions that could include 1 million people,” added Abanto.
The shortages could soon force doctors to make painful choices. Dr. Rosa Luz López supervises the ICU at Guillermo Almenara Hospital in Lima. Her team decides which patient gets an IC bed if one is available.
“You do what you can … that’s it, it’s like flipping a coin,” she told CNN.
So far, they have managed to triple the number of beds in her unit, but López says it won’t be enough.
Meanwhile, Jesus Valverde, president of the Society of Intensive Medicine and a physician at Dos de Mayo Hospital in Lima, told CNN that he has asked health officials not to add more beds – because there aren’t enough doctors to cover them.
Doctors are too thin across the country, he says.
All 50 beds in his hospital’s intensive care beds are occupied and his colleagues are “exhausted, tired, sick,” he says.
Nationwide, with regard to the more than 1,800 ICU beds occupied, it would ideally require 1,250 doctors, he said. Instead, the “600 doctors work in two or three shifts to cover this shortage.”
Last week, a handful of Peruvian medics went on hunger strike to demand more investment in the country’s health sector.
Amid mounting criticism, President Sagasti said on Tuesday that Peruvians can expect the first million doses of the Chinese Sinopharm vaccine in the coming days.
The vaccine has yet to be approved by Peruvian regulators, but Sagasti said the government plans to start the vaccination campaign in February, with primary care health workers getting the vaccinations first.
The Peruvian government has also signed two other agreements with Sinopharm for half a million doses in February and 1.5 million doses in March, he said.