Hospital Diospi Suyana treats its first Corona patient
Lorry-driver Pedro Quispe* had travelled some distance: 1,200km on his way from Lima to Quillabamba. As every hour ticked by Pedro felt worse and worse. Passing through the village of Curahuasi yesterday morning he stopped breathing. A short while later staff of the local health station took a Corona quick test with a positive result.
At 9a.m. the staff of the state health system brought him to the missionary hospital. His saturation was around 75% (above 90% is normal). The man was gasping for air.
Within seconds MRI-nurse Melanie Friesen (above left) pushed the mobile x-ray machine onto the isolation ward. The pictures showed the characteristic alterations of the lung. Analysing the pictures with special software from Holland confirmed the diagnosis.
Now the 42-year-old is lying in a one-patient room, is on oxygen and is getting all medications as prescribed by the protocol.
We expect that many more patients infected with the Coronavirus will cross our hospital’s threshold in the coming weeks. Yesterday the number of infected persons in Peru rocketed through the 25,000-mark. To date we count 700 deaths. But what makes matters worse is the fact that Northern Peru has no more free intensive care beds, while in the 8-million capital Lima the capacities are nearing exhaustion.
Please pray with us for Peru. We hope that all Diospi Suyana staff and their children will survive the epidemic. Our staff working in the hospital are risking their lives trying to save those infected, irrespective of protective clothing. As a team we want to do everything we can to save as many people from dying as possible. /KDJ (*Name changed)
