Covid-19: Mozambique has 34 functional ventilators in the public health system- Minister

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Covid-19: Mozambique has 34 functional ventilators in the public health system- Minister

2:15 CAT | 23 Mar 2020

FILE - For illustration purposes only. [File photo: Lusa]

Ten of these 34 ventilators had been “retrieved from the port of Maputo” on Fridat

The Mozambique public health system has 34 functional ventilators, sector minister Armindo Tiago said on Saturday at a press conference on the Covid-19 pandemic in Pemba, in the north of the country, at a time when there was still no confirmed case announced in the country.

The Mozambican population is expected to reach 30 million this year, according to the National Statistics Institute (INE).

“In terms of ventilators, the country currently has, in different hospitals, about 24 ventilators in the public system,” he said when asked by journalists about available means for dealing with any severe cases of respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus.

“Yesterday [Friday], we managed to retrieve ten additional ventilators from the port of Maputo. They will be distributed to hospitals that do not have them,” he added.

The Minister of Health also referred to a partnership already established with the private sector, through which “there are ventilators which in the event of an outbreak [of Covid-19] may also be used to save lives”.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates that 5% of people infected with Covid-19 “will need intensive care”, and most of them “will need mechanical ventilation”, [ … ] “the most common diagnosis in patients with Covid- 19 being severe pneumonia”.

Armindo Tiago also said on Saturday that “diagnosis of the new coronavirus is available in all health units in the country”, and that there are isolation facilities for any eventual case in provincial capitals and in some districts.

He also mentioned that, in the case of flu-like symptoms, there is a sufficient quantity of drugs in Mozambique to treat 3,000 patients.

The minister of health announced last week in an interview with the newspaper O País that the country had 2,000 kits to diagnose the new coronavirus, adding that “the capacity and preparation for the Covid-19 is progressively increasing, in line with the state’s contingency plan”.

The new coronavirus, responsible for the Covid-19 pandemic, has already infected more than 271,000 people worldwide, of whom more than 12,000 have died.

Since appearing in China in December, the outbreak has spread to 182 countries and territories, prompting the World Health Organisation (WHO) to declare a pandemic.

Europe now has the highest number of new cases. Italy has now had the highest number of fatalities, with 4,825 reported by Saturday.

Source: Lusa