Mozambique: Calm New Year’s transition at HCM

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Mozambique: Calm New Year’s transition at HCM

4:38 CAT | 02 Jan 2025

FILE - Director of emergency services at HCM, Dino Lopes. [File photo:AIM]

The Maputo Central Hospital (HCM) experienced a calm transition into the New Year during the period from 7:00 a.m. on 31 December to 7:00 a.m. on 1 January.

During this period, HCM attended to 290 patients, most of whom were seen in the adult emergency department (143 cases), gynaecology emergency (25), maternity (29), and paediatric emergency (79). Additionally, three in-hospital deaths were reported due to general illnesses.

The information was shared by the Director of the HCM Emergency Service, Dino Lopes, during a press conference summarising the main incidents reported in the last 24 hours during the New Year transition.

At 8:00 p.m. on 31 December, Lopes visited the hospital services, as has been customary every year. He noted that, “All services have full teams, and we concluded this morning (1 January) in the delivery room and micro-obstetrics ward, where we handed out baby clothes to the first two newborns, as you witnessed.”

Regarding patient admissions, Lopes reported that most of the 290 patients admitted were trauma victims.

“We had a total of 67 trauma victims, caused by various mechanisms, including 14 from falls and 19 from road accidents. We had no cases of collective accidents; all 19 cases were victims of individual accidents,” he said.

Lopes also noted that no cases of injuries from fireworks or collective accidents were reported—all 19 road accident cases involved private incidents.

It is worth noting that this year, authorities banned the handling of fireworks due to the insecure environment stemming from contested results of the recent general elections, disputed by the PODEMOS party and its presidential candidate, Venâncio Mondlane.

Regarding the Blood Bank, Lopes highlighted the availability of 237 units, a number he considers significantly higher than in previous years.

He urged citizens to visit the HCM Blood Bank to donate blood from 7:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. on regular workdays and from 7:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. on weekends.

“People can organise themselves into associations, contact the hospital, and we can come to their location to proceed with blood collection,” he added.

On the three deaths reported, Lopes explained that they were not caused by accidents but rather by general illnesses.

“We had no reports of external deaths caused by accidents,” he added.

Regarding the hospital’s capacity to meet demand, Lopes emphasised, “We had sufficient human resources to respond to demand. Although we are below last year’s numbers, we fully met all 37 requests.”

Source: AIM