RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A survey by the FNP (National Front of Mayors) pointed out that oxygen for patients with Covid-19 is about to end in at least 78 municipalities.
The entity sent questionnaires to 2,500 of the 5,570 municipalities. The data were collected by the 574 municipalities that answered the questionnaire between Thursday, March 18th and Friday March 19th.
As the survey is not yet complete, the number of municipalities with gas shortages may be even higher.
On March 12th, representatives from ABIQUIM (Brazilian Association of the Chemical Industry) and oxygen production and bottling companies had a meeting with ANVISA (National Health Regulatory Agency) and stated that the supply situation of hospital oxygen is worrisome in Brazil.
Read: Imminent risk of oxygen shortage in Brazil’s countryside cities, says Health Ministry
The Northern region is the one facing the greatest risk. At the meeting on March 12th, it was learned that the states of Acre and Rondônia would only have oxygen stock for 13 more days, that is, until March 24th.
The situation in the north of the country worsened in January 2021, when the health system in Manaus, Amazonas, collapsed, partly because of the advance of the more infectious Brazilian variant of the coronavirus, but mainly because of the lack of oxygen.
Read: Oxygen Stock Depleted in Manaus Hospitals; Patients Dying of Asphyxiation
The risk of oxygen shortages in hospitals led Anvisa to decide to monitor the production and distribution of the gas.
Now, medical oxygen manufacturers, bottlers, and distributors must provide, on a weekly basis, information about manufacturing, bottling, and distribution capacity, available stocks, and the amount demanded by the public and private sectors.
Source: Poder360