In an unprecedented event in Yucatan history, the vast majority of private and public hospitals in the city of Merida are at full capacity. Our editor took the task of calling each of the hospitals and clinics of the entity and interview doctors and nurses to know the current situation.
MERIDA, Yucatan (Times Media Mexico) – Private hospitals in the city of Mérida, as well as those in the state health sector, the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) and the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS) in Yucatán, “are at their peak,” with few spaces for hospitalization. In the case of public hospitals with few medicines and the case of private hospitals without rooms or ventilators, because of the upsurge in cases of Covid 19 recorded in the last two weeks.
In an interview with The Yucatan Times, doctors and nurses from the areas of COVID-19 and emergency care for patients with Coronavirus, who work in institutions such as Clínica Merida, Centro de Especialidades Médicas del Sureste, Centro Médico de las Américas, Centro Médico Pensiones, Hospital Faro, Star Médica as well as the Mexican Institute of Social Security (IMSS), the Institute of Security and Social Services for State Workers (ISSSTE) and the state health sector (SSY) in Merida, revealed that the current situation of the health system “is on the verge of collapse”.
One of the interviewees, whose identity was requested to be kept confidential, is a specialist in the area of intensive care. He tells us that the board of directors of the Ignacio García Téllez Regional General Hospital (T1), Benito Juárez has asked the doctors of the Family Medical Units located in Juan Pablo II, Fraccionamiento del Parque, Centro, 42 Sur, Ceiba, Kanasín and Umán, to withhold their shipments of patients because there is no space.
A doctor at the Clinaca Merida whose identity is kept confidential, told us: “The last two weeks have been crazy. Since the reactivation of the city, we are working by the hour. One goes out, and another comes in. I don’t want to tell you what’s going to happen in a couple of weeks now that people have gone to the beach for the summer. The clinic is full, and the situation will get worse”.
A nurse from UMAE, the IMSS specialized area for treating Covid in Yucatán, explains that they have 20 hospitalization beds on the intermediate therapy floor. There are 13 intensive care beds, all of which are currently occupied. Only if someone dies, someone comes in. For all the beds, there are only 22 ventilators, of which 20 are always in use.
The overdemand for medication due to the high number of seriously ill and intubated patients has also led to the depletion of blood pressure maintaining medication and sedatives so intubated people do not wake up “The fatality rate is tremendous. Those in intensive care die just as much as those on the floor”. She explains. “I cannot even tell you how scared I am, but this is the profession I chose.”
“There are so many patients in this unit that the IMSS had to open another room with a capacity of 20 beds. Those will be for patients with Covid-19 symptoms but who doesn’t have a test or are in the process of receiving their results. I’ll tell you one thing. We’re supposed to be in orange, and the authorities say there are still beds. That’s changing very quickly. The infections have gone up, and it’s futile to keep going up. People are not aware of what is happening or they just don’t care.”
The shortage of space to attend to more Coronavirus patients is replicated at Centro Médico de las Américas, Centro Médico Pensiones, El Hospital Faro and Star Médica, as well as Clínica Mérida and the public hospitals, all work by the hour. One patient leaves, one patient enters. The IMSS Benito Juárez hospital has a capacity for up to 40 patients, but the beds are full.
At the Ignacio García Téllez hospital, the situation is the same in the Covid-19 care area. The same scenario is replicated at the O’Horán hospital. They are full.
A doctor from the High Specialty Regional Hospital -HRAE- and a nurse from the Covid floor tell us: “We are full, we have space for 35 people, and we are attending to 30 people “we only have two or three ventilators left, because of the number of intubated patients.”
The Ministry of Health of Yucatan reported yesterday, Sunday July 12, that in the last 24 hours, 159 new cases of coronavirus were detected. 94 in Mérida, 13 in Valladolid, 7 in Progreso, 5 in Motul and Ticul, 4 in Bokobá and Chemax, 2 in Hunucmá, Izamal, Kanasín, Tekax and Tixkokob, 1 in Akil, Baca, Chapab, Chichimilá, Chumayel, Kinchil, Kopomá, Peto, Samahil, Tecoh, Tekom, Temozón, Tizimín, Umán and Yobaín.
The number of infections in the state has been increasing to such an extent that the Yucatan hospital sector is on the verge of collapse.
Source: The Yucatan Times Newsroom
