アマゾンにコロナ専門病院急設へ、ペルー政府発表

【リマＡＦＰ＝時事】ペルー政府は15日、先住民族の間で新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）が広まっている緊急事態を受け、アマゾン地域に専門病院を急ピッチで建設すると発表した。（写真はペルーのアマゾン最大都市イキトスの病院の廊下で治療を受ける新型コロナウイルス感染症の患者たち）
　ペルー社会保険庁によると、ブラジル国境に近いアマゾン地域ウカヤリ州の州都プカルパに、ベッド数１００床の病院を建設する。運営は３週間以内に開始されるという。
　ペルーのアマゾン地域は、イキトスの病院がＣＯＶＩＤ-１９の患者であふれ、遺体安置所もその多さに対処しきれないなどの危機的状況にすでに直面している。政府は同地域に医療従事者２２０人を急きょ派遣する方針を示している。
　アマゾン一帯は道路がほとんどなく、主要な交通路は河川だ。ビセンテ・セバジョス首相は、「陸・空路で」人工呼吸器用の酸素など不可欠な医療物資を届けると表明した。また政府は、首都リマからの支援物資輸送機を増便すると約束した。
　当局によると、アマゾン地域の病院では酸素不足が原因でＣＯＶＩＤ-１９の患者が亡くなっている。イキトスがあるロレト州の保健当局トップはＡＦＰとのビデオ電話で、「世界の肺（に住む人々）が、酸素がないために死んでいくというのがわれわれの悲しい現実だ」と述べた。
　ペルーの公式統計によると、ロレト州で確認された新型コロナウイルスの感染者はこれまでに２２５０人を超え、うち９５人が亡くなった。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/05/18-13:07）

Peru said it will construct a fast-build hospital in the Amazon as it seeks to respond to a growing COVID-19 emergency sweeping through the indigenous population.
State social security body EsSalud said it expects the 100-bed hospital in Pucallpa, capital of the remote Ucayali region on the border with Brazil, to be operational within three weeks.
EsSalud will install a fast-build hospital in Ucayali to serve COVID-19 patients, the government body said in a statement late Friday.
The Peruvian Amazon is already facing a dire emergency, with hospitals in its largest city Iquitos overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients and local morgues unable to cope with the number of bodies.
The government said it would rush 220 healthworker reinforcements to the Amazon.
We have been working intensively to expand the services and provide hospitals in the Peruvian Amazon with all the necessary means to care for patients with COVID-19, said Federico Tong Hurtado, a spokesman for the social security services.
Prime Minister Gustavo Zeballos said the government would ensure the supply of oxygen and other vital medical materials via an air and land bridge to the region.
Roads are practically non-existent in the Peruvian jungle and rivers are the main means of transportation.
The government has pledged to ramp up the frequency of flights from Lima to ensure aid deliveries.
An oxygen plant will begin operating in Iquitos, capital of the neighboring Amazon region of Loreto, on Monday, supplying a local 40-bed hospital.
Desperate COVID-19 patients have been dying in the region's hospitals for lack of oxygen, officials say.
The world's lung is dying from lack of oxygen and this is our sad reality, the director of Health for the Amazon Region of Loreto, Carlos Calampa, told AFP in a video call on Thursday.
Loreto, which borders Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador, is the largest and least populated region in Peru but also the worst affected by the pandemic.
More than 2,250 cases of Peru's COVID-19 cases have been registered there, with 95 deaths, according to official figures.
Church authorities in Iquitos have organized a public collection to acquire another plant to provide oxygen bottles for local hospitals.