Covid-19: Growing demand for oxygen at Polana Caniço, Maputo – O País

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Covid-19: Growing demand for oxygen at Polana Caniço, Maputo – O País

1:45 CAT | 20 Jan 2021

Photo: O País

There is a growing demand for oxygen for critically ill Covid-19 patients at the Polana Caniço Hospitalisation Centre, where an estimated average of 20 people enter the health unit daily in search of health care for respiratory disease.

More than 20,000 people in Mozambique have been infected with the new coronavirus since the first outbreak in the country in March, 2020. In Maputo, some patients are admitted to the Polana Caniço Hospitalisation Centre following the worsening of their clinical condition, children among them, and these patients need oxygen.

“We take patients who need less oxygen to a ward where they receive oxygen through concentrators. These are machines which produce oxygen, but in low quantities,” clinical director Dr Marino Maringue explains.

Polana Caniço has a capacity for 120 Covid-19 patients. There are currently 83 patients there, of whom seven are in critical condition, 43 in a serious condition, and 33 moderate.

The health unit has a 5,000-litre tank providing oxygen for patients, which is refilled every two days, Polana Caniço hospital director Dr Hélia Mananze explains.

Currently, of the 120 beds available in Polana Caniço, only 78 have the capacity to supply oxygen, but the hospital wants to increase this number. “We want all beds to have oxygen, so that all critically ill patients will have it available,” Dr Mananze says.

Since the outbreak of Covid-19 in Mozambique in March 2020, Polana Caniço registered five hospitalisations in July, 22 in August, 63 in September, 102 in October, 104 in November, with the numbers rising to 184 in January so far, and around 20 new admissions per day.

“This is a little worrying, given the response teams that we have; it ends up overloading the staff. But we have to guarantee a good quality response, to save lives,” Dr Mananze says.

From July 2020 to the present, 559 Covid-19 patients have been admitted to Polana Caniço. Of these, 124 patients died, 41 patients were transferred to other health units for various reasons, and 307 patients recovered and were discharged.

“These discharges are what motivate us. We have had patients who come here in very serious conditions but end up recovering and being discharged. It is true that we have also had losses, but the discharges are what motivate us to continue to give more and save lives,” Dr Mananze says.

Internally, the Polana Caniço Hospitalisation Centre has seen 14 of its workers test positive for the virus, and Dr Mananze is quick to urge caution on the general public.

“May our population adopt the measures that have already been outlined by the Ministry of Health, to see if we can manage to reduce contacts and the number of new cases. This way, we will also reduce the level of hospitalisation and overload.”

There are patients seeking other types of medical care, too, Dr Mananze adds.

As long as Covid-19 patients need health care, the centre at Polana Caniço will continue to respond, in a fight waged from hospital beds against a pandemic that has caused grief and pain to millions worldwide.

By Romeu Carlos

Source: O País