Most Lima hospitals on the brink of collapse due to the coronavirus pandemic, the Office of the Defender of the Peruvian People, the government body responsible for ensuring human rights in the country, warned on Thursday. country. "The impossibility of seeking treatment in the health services of Lima is imminent," warned the organization in a statement, while Peru, a country of 32 million inhabitants, recorded 108,769 contaminations and 3,148 deaths due to Covid-19.
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"Health facilities lack biosecurity equipment for staff, resuscitation beds, respirators, oxygen, tests, among other medical devices and materials," added the institution. Lima has 397 hospitals, clinics and health centers where staff and families of patients have repeatedly denounced the precarious working conditions, as well as the shortages of protective equipment and medicines. The Office of the Defender points out in particular the situation of the Loayza hospital, in the center of Lima, where 60 patients spend the night in a wheelchair, connected to oxygen, due to lack of beds.
Peru is the second country most affected by the epidemic in Latin America after Brazil. It is the third in terms of death after Brazil and Mexico. However, for the first time on Thursday, the number of hospitalizations for the coronavirus fell slightly, from 2433 to 7.455 in 24 hours.