入院できず自宅で即席の救命措置…母を救ったブラジルの医師

【マナウスＡＦＰ＝時事】「母は私の腕の中で死んでいくのだと思った」──ブラジルの医師、マルコス・フォンセカ・バルボサさん（36）は病院の空き病床が不足する中、新型コロナウイルス感染症（COVID-19）に罹患（りかん）した母親を救うために自宅で即席の措置を強いられた。（写真はCOVID-19に罹患した両親の看護をする医師のマルコス・フォンセカ・バルボサさん）
　バルボサさんは今月、ブラジル北部マナウスの公立病院の集中治療室（ＩＣＵ）に母親のルースさん（５６）を入院させようとした。だが、ＣＯＶＩＤ-１９の新規感染者の爆発的増加で、病院は患者であふれかえっていた。
　「母は発熱していて、ほとんど呼吸ができなかった。挿管する必要があった。自分は医師だと伝えたが、私たちはプラスチックの椅子で４時間以上も待たされた」とバルボサさんはＡＦＰに語った。
　順番を待っている間に母は死んでしまうかもしれない、と察したバルボサさんは自力で何とかしようとした。「望みは薄かった。間もなく母はプラスチックの椅子の上で、私の腕の中で死んでいくのだと思った。私は即、立ち上がり、母を車に運び、家に連れ帰った」とバルボサさん。「そしてあらゆる友人と、自分が在宅治療を行った元患者にメッセージを送り、助けを求めた」
　このＳＯＳによって酸素ボンベと非侵襲的な人工呼吸器を入手することができ、バルボサさんは即席の措置で母親を治療することができた。「酸素マスク一つで母の命をつないだ」。呼吸を助けるために経鼻カテーテルも使ったという。
　「４日間、毎日２４時間体制で母に付き添った」。その後バルボサさんは病院勤務に戻らねばならず、「教師の妻に母を託した」。
　現在ルースさんは回復してきたが、バルボサさんは確認の電話を絶えずかけている。「彼女が救われたのは、生きる意志と神のおかげ。今も生きているのは本当の奇跡だ」とバルボサさんはいい、母親を救った自らの努力については謙虚な姿勢を崩さない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2021/01/22-11:30）

I believed she was going to die in my arms, recounts Marcos Fonseca Barbosa, a doctor forced to improvise home treatment for his Covid-sick mother in Brazil, where hospital beds have become scarce.
The 36-year-old doctor had tried to get her admitted to intensive care last week in the northern city of Manaus, but the public hospital was overwhelmed with patients as the number of cases has exploded.
She had a fever and could hardly breathe. She should have been intubated. I told them I was a doctor, but they made us wait over four hours on plastic chairs, he tells AFP.
I absolutely do not blame my colleagues -- I know we are living through a war, says the young doctor, who works in several private clinics that are also flooded with patients.
Manaus is a city of some two million people that had already witnessed nightmarish scenes in April and May, when so many died that authorities were forced to dig mass graves and reinforce the hospital with refrigerated trucks.
But the situation is even worse in 2021. In the first 11 days of January no fewer than 1,979 Covid patients have been hospitalized in Manaus, compared to 2,128 in April 2020, which was the worst since the pandemic started.
- 'I kept her alive' -
The 370 deaths reported so far this year in the city have already outpaced the one-month record for fatalities set in May, when 348 lives were lost to the virus.
Even in my worst nightmares, I could never have imagined something like this, Barbosa says.
When he realized that his 56-year-old mother Ruth might die while waiting in the hospital, the doctor took matters into his own hands.
It was hopeless. After a while I believed she was going to die in my arms on a plastic chair. I stood up suddenly, I took her to the car and we went home, he remembers.
Then I sent messages to all my friends and former patients that I had treated at home to ask for their help.
It was through these urgent efforts that he got an oxygen cylinder and non-invasive mechanical ventilation device -- equipment that allowed him to improvise the treatment his mother who have gotten in the hospital.
I kept her alive with an oxygen mask, he explains, adding that he also gave her a nasal catheter to help her breathe.
I stayed at her side 24 hours a day for four days. After that I had to go back to the hospital. I left her in the care of my wife, who is a teacher.
He notes that his mother is doing better now, but that hasn't prevented him from calling constantly to check on her.
What saved her was her will to live and the help of God. It is a true miracle that she is still alive, he says, remaining modest on his efforts to save his mother.