In China, in hospitals saturated by the worst wave of COVID-19 the country has ever experienced, infected doctors are working to treat elderly patients.
Three years after the discovery of the first coronavirus cases in Wuhan (center), the country is facing an explosion in infections.
Authorities have already admitted that it is currently “impossible” to determine the extent of the epidemic: tests are no longer mandatory and data is fragmented.
Before long, China’s health system was overwhelmed, pharmacies ran out of fever medication, and crematoria faced an influx of bodies.
In the Nankai Hospital in Tianjin (north), a port city 140 kilometers from Beijing, the AFP counted 20 elderly people on the emergency service.
Most are on medication, others have great difficulty breathing, while some appear semi- or totally unconscious.
“Everyone has Covid-19,” a doctor told AFP.
The emergency department is busier than usual, another doctor notes.
After testing positive for the coronavirus, the doctor, like “almost everyone”, has to continue working.
Despite a wave of scale contamination, Chinese health authorities have ended the daily publication of covid-19 figures.
With the end of widespread testing and the authorities’ decision to change the definition of death from the coronavirus, the statistics seem completely out of touch with reality.
“Four Hour Wait”
In another nearby hospital, the AFP counted 25 elderly people lying on makeshift beds in the corridors. Among them patients on drips, people shivering from the cold. Some suffocate with fits of coughing with their masks on.
Nurses gently move patients on stretchers or wheelchairs between patients in hallways.
In the resuscitation room, doctors are busy with an elderly patient hooked up to machines.
A hospital official confirmed to AFP that most hospitalized patients developed complications related to covid-19.
“There’s a four-hour wait to see a doctor,” replies a hospital worker. There are “300 people” waiting, he points out.
AFP witnessed similar situations in Shanghai, the economic capital, and also in Chongqing, where the influx of patients is also overwhelming the health system.
Source: DN
