Despite Brazil Health Minister´s Claims, Oxygen Shortage Persists in Amazonas State

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The oxygen supply issue in the Amazonas healthcare system is still to be normalized. Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello announced in an interview on Monday, January 18th, that the crisis had been “stabilized”. However, doctors and nurses stated that there is still a shortage in hospitals, which are still overwhelmed with the care of patients with Covid-19.

The hospitals in greater demand are located in the interior of Amazonas, such as Itacoatiara, Coari and Tefé. The city of Coari, some 450 km from Manaus, reported in a statement that seven patients hospitalized at the city’s Regional Hospital died on Tuesday, January 19th, due to lack of oxygen. The municipal administration criticized the State Health Secretariat for the delay in delivering 40 cylinders, which came over an hour after the unit’s stock was depleted.

In the capital, the Delphina Aziz hospital, located in northern Manaus and the largest in the region, is also struggling with supply issues. Further evidence that the scenario is still worrying is that the state government continues to transfer patients. On Monday, eighteen were referred to the state of Goiás. Another five were transferred to Pará on Tuesday.

Amazonas Governor Wilson Lima warned about February, the month in which Amazonas tends to experience a peak of respiratory disease infection because of the “Amazonian winter” (the rainiest period). He also explained that most hospitals in the interior do not have oxygen storage tanks, depending exclusively on cylinders that are difficult to transport. “There are places that can only be reached by boat in six days,” he said.

The federal government announced that, together with private initiative, the Armed Forces and public bodies, it has managed to reduce Manaus’ daily demand for oxygen by 63.83% and projected that the supply will be restored between “Wednesday and Thursday”.

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