Mozambique: Maputo Central Hospital needs a stroke unit

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Mozambique: Maputo Central Hospital needs a stroke unit

10:01 CAT | 01 Jul 2024

File photo: Notícias

Around 150 cases of stroke are treated each month in the emergency department of the Maputo Central Hospital. The director of the largest health unit in Mozambique says that the hospital needs a unit for these ‘cerebrovascular accidents’ (CVAs), and reports that the cold weather is the reason behind the rise in the number of respiratory disease cases in children.

Dino Mariano Lopes, director of the Emergency Service at Maputo Central Hospital, the largest health unit in Mozambique, explained that the hospital needs a cerebrovascular accident (CVA) unit.

“There are three to five cases of stroke thrombosis per day,” Lopes says. “The hospital does not have a stroke unit, although we are making efforts to acquire one, which entails a lot of costs, a lot of material and human resources. Most patients go into intensive care, where we also do not have enough beds. Our intensive care has just 16 beds, and it’s not just for strokes – we have other critical situations that also need those beds.”

The cold weather is also causing respiratory illness in children, and two to three cases of burns are reported every day.

“Children tell us that they are forced to carry water from far away, and this ends up causing problems,” Lopes explains. “Also, hospitals normally have a burns unit, but we do not have one here.”

The hospital management did not reveal the number of deaths caused by stroke, but admits that it is high.

Source: RFI