Dozens of African countries are facing severe oxygen shortages as Covid-19 infections continue to surge amid low vaccination rates, reports say.
According to BBC, the situation has led to preventable deaths.
The report quoted a Somali doctor as saying that between five and 10 of his Covid patients were dying almost daily due to a lack of oxygen.
“These would all be preventable deaths if we had adequate oxygen,” Dr Jama Abdi Mahamud at the government-run Gardo General Hospital said.
Since the beginning of the pandemic, the need for affordable and sustainable access to oxygen has been growing in low and middle-income countries, Africa News reported.
“In Africa, several parameters make things more complicated in terms of access to oxygen.
“First, the infrastructure, that is to say, the hospital organisation, oxygen distribution networks which are not yet installed everywhere.
Acute shortages of vaccines and oxygen
“As for those which exist, they require technical assistance for their commissioning. We are in the process of implementing other solutions, namely the extractors of oxygen,” the report quoted Dr Philippe Duneton, Executive Director of UNITAID, a United Nations investigative agency, as saying.
Oxygen is one of the only treatments for severe Covid-19 infections. Without it, patients could suffocate.
The Guardian reported this week that Uganda has run out of Covid-19 vaccines and oxygen as the country grapples with another wave of the pandemic.
Both private and public medical facilities in the capital, Kampala and in towns across the country reported running out or having acute shortages of AstraZeneca vaccines and oxygen, the report said.
The Uganda Medical Association (UMA) said the situation was dire, as the country records week-on-week increased in new cases.
The WHO reported 1 735 confirmed cases on Sunday June 13, compared with 60 cases on May 13 – an increase of nearly 2 800%.
As of Monday, June 14, the total number of confirmed cases stood at 60 250 with 423 deaths, according to the WHO. The ministry of health reported figures of 63 099 cases and 434 deaths.
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