Brazil's hospitals running out of sedatives as COVID-19 rages

[Judi Lynn]

UPDATE 2-Brazil's hospitals running out of sedatives as COVID-19 rages
Thu, April 15, 2021, 3:59 PM·3 min read

(Adds Health Minister and Sao Paulo Governor comments, COVID-19 daily deaths)

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 15 (Reuters) - Brazil's hospitals were running out of drugs needed to sedate COVID-19 patients on Thursday, with the government urgently seeking to import supplies amid reports of the seriously ill being tied down and intubated without effective sedatives.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said Brazil was in talks with Spain and other countries to secure the emergency drugs. Hospitals, he added, were also struggling to get enough oxygen.

The scenes playing out across Brazil, one of the countries hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, are placing growing international pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro.

Aid group Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said Brazil's "failed response" had led to thousands of avoidable deaths and created a humanitarian catastrophe that could still get worse.

Brazil has recorded a total of 361,884 coronavirus deaths - only the United States has more - and 13,673,507 confirmed cases.

More Brazilians are currently dying of the virus each day than anywhere else in the world, with South America's largest country reporting another 3,560 deaths on Thursday. Bolsonaro has opposed lockdowns and held large events in which he often does not wear a mask. He has only recently embraced vaccines as a possible solution.

More:
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/1-brazils-hospitals-running-sedatives-195911622.html

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April 15, 2021
4:42 PM CDT
Reuters
4 minutes read



Medical workers take care of patients in the emergency room of the Nossa Senhora da Conceicao hospital that is overcrowding because of the coronavirus outbreak, in Porto Alegre, Brazil, March 11, 2021. REUTERS/Diego Vara

Brazil's hospitals were running out of drugs needed to sedate COVID-19 patients on Thursday, with the government urgently seeking to import supplies amid reports of the seriously ill being tied down and intubated without effective sedatives.

https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-covid-19-response-cost-thousands-lives-says-humanitarian-group-2021-04-15/

[applegrove]

1. What hell is this. Brought on by a man of no empathy or sense. Nothing

but himself.

[NJCher]

2. Being intubated

Without a sedative sounds like torture.

The toll this is taking on the healthcare workers is brutal.

[NJCher]

3. I was remembering how at

One time Brazil was eyed as a hot spot for investment.

Now what will it take to rebuild?