The brutal irony of the Paraguayan Minister of Health due to the impact of the pandemic: “The zombie attack is the only thing we miss”

The worsening COVID-19 pandemic in Paraguay has put the health care system under control, which Health Minister Julio Borba illustrated with brutal irony in a recent interview.

“The zombie attack comes later, it’s the only thing we’re missing”Borba joked in a radio report Monumental when they asked him what problem would follow the lack of drugs, the lack of oxygen and the slow arrival of vaccines. And then he completed his response: “No… look, we are working to deal with any issues that arise. We are looking to solve the vaccine problem. We are dealing with the oxygen problem. We are working day in and day out. These are daily fires that we have to put out, with all the problems we have at the Department of Health. It’s difficult. It’s very difficult”.

Projections from the Paraguayan Ministry of Health suggest that those killed by covid-19 would reach 5,485 in the third week of this month according to an expected average of 7.22 daily deaths per million inhabitants.

Likewise, the ministry reported Thursday on its page that for this period it could reach 271,500 infections, forecasts which according to the entity correspond to the “Critical situation in the country.” In this sense, the portfolio indicated that the daily average of new infections is 1825, while there is also a sustained increase in hospitalizations which “show a rebound since the beginning of February”.

Paraguay, with seven million inhabitants, accumulates to this day 4644 deaths, after the 60 reported Thursday evening, and a total of 229,595 infections for a year, the first case has been detected. The same balance showed 2479 positives in one day, as well as a total of 2,964 boarding schools, 438 in intensive care units.

Consultations and hospitalizations in respiratory and intensive rooms have for weeks exceeded the capacity of the public health network, one of the most backward in the region, which has led it to refer patients to private centers.

In this regard, representatives of the Paraguayan Association of Nurses mobilized Thursday at the headquarters of the ministry to require drugs to be guaranteed for health workers and patients, as well as contracts to improve service.

The ministry reported on Thursday that oxygen consumption has increased fivefold in hospitals during the pandemic, but he clarified that the request is covered. However, some local media reported a lack of oxygen supply in several public hospitals.

The South American country is completing the vaccination of health workers, after which the elderly will start vaccination, after the 100,000 doses given by India awaiting use were released Thursday by the referent of a regional regulatory authority.

The vaccines produced in India are the biggest batch arriving in the country, as it only has received 36,000 doses out of the 4.3 million acquired via the Covax mechanism.

Both the hospital situation and the delay in the arrival of vaccines caused last month protests in Asunción demanding the resignation of the country’s president, Mario Abdo Benítez, of the Conservative Party of Colorado.

During these protests, the president was reminded that his government has one year to strengthen the health system with investments, with some historic weaknesses that have become more evident with the pandemic.

With information from EFE

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