News & Analysis: Health workers
“‘Patients, particularly young ones, are arriving in respiratory distress,’ Dr. Khardiata Diallo, head of infectious disease at Fann hospital in Dakar, said, her voice cracking with exhaustion. ‘We’ve never had this number of cases, deaths and severe cases. Frankly, this third wave threatens to drown us.'”
“WHO regional director for Africa Matshidiso Moeti said that hospital admissions for severely ill COVID-19 patients had reached unprecedented levels in about 10 countries; at least six countries were facing shortages in intensive care unit beds and medical oxygen.”
“Kenya’s frontline workers, mostly doctors, have come out publicly to complain about missing their second dose appointments for a COVID vaccine due to a shortage in the East African country.”
“Nine doctors have died of COVID-19 in Uganda in the last fortnight, as a devastating new wave of coronavirus infections sweeps over the country.”
“Both private and public medical facilities in the capital, Kampala and in towns across the country – including regional hubs in Entebbe, Jinja, Soroti, Gulu and Masaka – have reported running out or having acute shortages of AstraZeneca vaccines and oxygen. Hospitals report they are no longer able to admit patients to intensive care.”
“The national state referral hospitals Windhoek Central Hospital and Katutura Intermediate Hospital will no longer perform any operations unless they are urgent, as the country continues to battle a third wave of COVID-19 infections.”
“The director of Entebbe Referral Hospital, Dr Moses Muwanga has said the facility has been closed to inpatients due to a surge in the number of COVID-19 patients being admitted at the hospital.”
“More than 1,800 people are currently hospitalised in the province’s private and public facilities, but concerns over bed space are mounting as Gauteng COVID-19 infection numbers spike.”
“COVAX has relied heavily on Indian developers for supplies, but deliveries have now stalled as India grapples with a violent resurgence of the pandemic. With more than 930,000 people inoculated in Kenya so far, vaccines are expected to be exhausted in the coming days.”
As India’s COVID-19 disaster continues to unfold, Africans in the country are facing grim health risks and financial hardships, with uncertain prospects of when they will be able to return home.
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