An hour before dying from COVID-19 at Hospital II de Essalud de Pucallpa, Dr. Neil Alarcón Quispe sent a message to his sister-in-law that said: “Force, keep going.” That was the last communication that the doctor made, on May 11, after having been hospitalized for three days.
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He is one of 20 doctors who have died in the country since the beginning of the state of emergency. Of these, 19 died only between May 3 and 13. Half of the victims worked in Loreto.
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Alarcón was 33 years old and for eight months he had been performing his Rural and Urban Marginal Health Service (Serums) at the Fraternidad de Pucallpa (Ucayali) health center. Due to the pandemic, he was called to work in the COVID-19 area of the Essalud hospital in the city.
He had no pre-existing diseases or conditions that placed him in the risk group. So he kept working until he started having difficulty breathing. “On May 8, he entered the same hospital as a patient and spent 20 hours sitting in the garage waiting to go to the floor [de hospitalización]. She talked to us all the time, until the last hour she encouraged us, ”says her sister-in-law, Rosa Agüero Otaysa, who is also a doctor and works in Lima at two hospitals.
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She and her husband, Neil’s brother, participated yesterday in the mass in honor of the deceased doctors that Monsignor Guillermo Elías, auxiliary bishop of Lima, officiated at Our Lady of Fatima parish in Miraflores. “Strength, brothers and all those who chose the vocation to procure life. You are not alone, we are with you ”, expressed the religious.
Heroes of Health
The ceremony recalled the first doctor killed in the country by COVID-19, Wayner Arnulfo Benites Cerna, who worked at the Santa Rosa health center in the San Juan de Lurigancho district. He passed away on April 8.
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Also to the pulmonologist Rafael García Dávila, the psychiatrist Raúl Argumedo Castillo, the bachelor Carlos Martín Torrejón Ríos, the nephrologist José Nicasio Armas, the internist César Hugo Jara Baca, the oncologist Aníbal Muñoz Mendoza, the bachelor Eduardo Ferreyra Tello and the gyneco-obstetricians Alberto Acuña Fernández , Eder Aguilar Rojas and Nicolás Hernández Hernández, all deceased doing their job in Iquitos.
Likewise, honors were paid to surgeon Fernando Zapata Rojas, otolaryngologist Pedro Miguel Vargas, radiologist Elard Roberto Calli Araca and internist Segundo Pinillos Reyes, who died in Lima; the pediatrician Víctor Genaro Shioun Yhu, who died in Callao; the surgeon Hilario Francisco Mendoza Ferrer, in Pucallpa; the surgeon Óscar Raúl Miranda Martino, in Piura, and the cardiologist Marino Alarcón Solano, who died in Chiclayo.
Tragic record
According to the Peruvian Medical College (CMP), there are 840 infected doctors in the country, mainly in Lima, Iquitos, Trujillo and Pucallpa. Of the positive cases, 43 are in intensive care units (ICUs) and five others are waiting for a mechanical ventilator to survive. “Every 12 hours a doctor died in May. We are scared by the speed with which our colleagues are dying, that is why we continue to ask that oxygen, medicines and ventilators not be lacking, ”says Miguel Palacios Celi, dean of the CMP.
The doctor maintains that although it has been two months since the coronavirus arrived in Peru, personal protective equipment is still lacking to guarantee the safety of professionals who are on the front line of care. This is in addition to the oxygen shortage, especially in Iquitos and Pucallpa, as well as the initial difficulties in establishing air bridges that allow serious cases to be transferred to Lima.
The increase in infections would also be associated with air circulation problems in the COVID-19 rooms and emergencies. “We need the negative pressure rooms to be in good condition to change the air that has a high viral load,” he says.
The worsening health of doctors hits the entire system, adds Palacios. In Iquitos, 185 of the 400 available doctors have COVID-19. “Each doctor is doing the work of 5 or 6 doctors in this city. They must have the priority of attention [si se contagian]”He emphasizes.
Yesterday a mass was offered for the doctors who died attending to the COVID-19 patients (Photo: César Campos / GEC). Yesterday a mass was offered for the doctors who died attending to the COVID-19 patients (Photo: César Campos / GEC). Other victims In the case of the police, 4,098 have tested positive for COVID-19. Meanwhile, there are already 82 officers who have died from this disease. To date, 7 firefighters have died from the coronavirus in the country and 20 volunteers are hospitalized in the Pan-American Villa. In the Armed Forces, there are 1,172 infected and seven died . Five were from the Navy and 2 from the Army.
The Merchant will keep all essential content on the coronavirus free access.
Who are the people most at risk from the coronavirus?
Because COVID-19 is a new coronavirus, according to global reports, older people and those with pre-existing medical conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes are the ones who develop severe cases of the disease. more often than others.
How long does coronavirus survive on a surface?
It is not yet known exactly how long this new virus survives on a surface, but it seems to behave like other coronaviruses.
Studies indicate that they can survive from a few hours to several days. The time may vary depending on the conditions (type of surface, temperature or humidity of the environment).
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