LISBON (Reuters) – Portugal’s public health system is on the verge of collapse as hospitals in areas hardest hit by a worrying wave of coronavirus cases quickly run out of intensive care beds to care for patients COVID-19.
“Our health system is in a situation of extreme pressure,” Health Minister Marta Temido told reporters on Sunday afternoon after a visit to a troubled hospital. “There’s a limit and we’re very close to it.”
The health system, which before the pandemic had the lowest number of critical care beds per 100,000 inhabitants in Europe, can accommodate a maximum of 672 COVID-19 patients in intensive care units or ICUs, according to data from the ministry. Health.
According to the DGS health authority, the number of people in the ICU with COVID-19 reached 647 on Sunday. The Portuguese Association of Hospital Administrators said the number of coronavirus patients in need of hospitalization is likely to increase dramatically over the next week.
Three days after a national shutdown, the country of just 10 million people reported 10,385 new cases and 152 fatalities on Sunday, bringing the total number of infections to 549,801, and the death toll to 8,861. .
According to the website ourworldindata.org with the support of Oxford University, Portugal recorded the highest number of coronavirus cases in Europe per capita in the last seven days.
Most of the new cases were concentrated in Lisbon, where many patients from the city’s public hospitals have already been transferred to other places, including the health units in the country’s second largest city, Porto.
“We are already treating patients beyond our installed capacity,” said Daniel Ferro, director of Santa Maria’s largest hospital in Lisbon. “And we’re not the only hospital where this is happening.”
Garcia de Orta Hospital, on the other side of the Tagus River from Lisbon, said in a statement that the hospital could soon enter a “pre-catastrophe” phase, as it no longer has beds for patients. with coronavirus.
Catarina Demony Reports; Edited by Jonathan Oatis