101 healthcare workers dead from covid, 9.810 infected

Nearly 10,000  Panama healthcare workers have contracted covid-19 the  since the start of the pandemic and 101 have died says the Jan 27 situation report of the Pan  America Health Organization (PAHO .

The report highlights the “progressive rise” in hospitalizations and the “contagions in health personnel” during the pandemic generated by Covid-19.

Faced with this, the international body states that the risks of the pandemic continue and that not only people and their families must be protected but also those who care for them, that is, health workers, who are in frequent contact with the victims of this epidemic and who, in turn, are infected with Covid-19.

The report details that to date, at least 9,810 infected health workers have been registered in Panama, among the personnel who work in both administrative and care areas of the health facilities and the laboratory, or who carry out socio-sanitary tasks , as in rapid response teams or community traceability.

It stands out that 63.5% of the cases correspond to the female sex and that, of the total, 101 have died, which represents a fatality of 1.02%.

“PAHO urges hospitals and all health facilities to ensure effectively and consistently the application of protocols with measures to prevent the spread of infections in their personnel, in all phases of health care and in all medical procedures, ”the document states.

The foregoing, with the aim of avoiding the transmission of Covid-19 and any other disease to patients who go to health facilities and avoid the disability or death of health personnel that are needed to provide essential care and save lives.

This week, unions such as the National Negotiating Medical Commission (Comenenal) and the National Association of Nurses warned of the death of more than 30 doctors and eight nurses so far in the pandemic.

The latest reports of the Comptroller General specify that there are about 7,000 doctors and 6,000 nurses in the country. However, Itzel Hewitt, director of the Expanded Immunization Program, stressed that throughout the country there are about 6,000 collaborators who are part of the health personnel.

In addition to doctors and nurses, the group includes laboratory workers, nursing technicians, manual workers, pharmacists and traceability teams, among others, who in one way or another have to do with the care of people with Covid-19 .

Most of this group of health workers worked at the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies and at the hospitals of the Ministry of Health (Minsa) and the Social Security Fund (CSS).