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Judi Lynn

(160,218 posts)
Wed May 27, 2020, 02:18 AM May 2020

Chile's hospital ICUs near full capacity as pandemic rages


By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 16:01 EDT, 26 May 2020 | UPDATED: 20:10 EDT, 26 May 2020

SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) - Intensive care units in Chile's hospitals are nearly at capacity amid a flood of coronavirus patients, authorities said Tuesday, and doctors are having to make wrenching choices over which patients should get available beds.

Health officials said 95% of the country's 2,400 ICU beds are occupied even after a doubling of capacity from the levels in March. They announced plans to add 400 more critical care beds in the coming days.

"This is an extraordinarily difficult time," Health Minister Jaime Mañalich said.

A nation of 18 million people, Chile has the third most coronavirus cases in the region, after Brazil and Peru, with an average of 4,000 new infections reported daily. About 15% of the cases require hospitalization.

That is forcing Chilean physicians to face a dilemma that previously confronted doctors in hard-hit nations like Italy and Spain: Which patient with coronavirus should be given the last available bed?

More:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/ap/article-8359251/Chiles-hospital-ICUs-near-capacity-pandemic-rages.html
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