Corona; Oxygen Shortage in Khuzestan Province Hospitals, Warning about Health System Resilience
According to an Iranian parliament representative, of every 10 hospitalized patients in Khuzestan Province, 9 are infected with the mutated virus, and some cities in the province are facing oxygen shortages.
According to ISNA, Qasem Saedi on Thursday, March 19, described the situation in Khuzestan regarding corona as “concerning” and criticized the government for not implementing timely and sufficient restrictions, calling for quarantine of red zones and reducing traffic in the province.
Mr. Saedi also reported a severe oxygen shortage in Deshte Azadegan and said: “Oxygen production devices in hospitals are not sufficient for patients, and we are witnessing the loss of our youth.”
Based on the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health, of the 9 red cities in the country, eight of them—Abadan, Ahvaz, Bandar Mahshahr, Dezful, Ramhormoz, Shush, Shushtar, and Karun—are located in Khuzestan Province.
Following the crisis situation in Khuzestan Province due to the widespread outbreak of the mutated virus, provincial authorities in recent weeks repeatedly requested the quarantine of the province from the National Corona Fighting Headquarters, but these requests remained unanswered each time.
Based on the latest statistics announced by the governor of Khuzestan on Tuesday, March 17, “more than 1,300 people have been hospitalized in the province’s hospitals, and hospital beds in Ahvaz and most cities in Khuzestan are saturated.”
Meanwhile, heads of medical universities across the country on Thursday issued a message requesting officials to make “serious decisions with greater determination and speed” to combat corona, stating that if the number of patients increases, the country’s health system will “lack the resilience to withstand the excessive burden.”
Based on the latest statistics from the Ministry of Health on Thursday, in the past 24 hours, 89 more corona patients died in the country, and the total death toll from this disease has reached 61,581 people.
Sima Lari, spokesperson for the Ministry of Health, reported 7,530 new corona cases in the same period and the total number of COVID-19 patients in the country at 1,778,645 people.
Iranian Health Ministry officials are providing daily statistics on corona cases and deaths to the media without presenting detailed data, while serious doubts exist about the accuracy of these figures, and the Iranian Medical Organization believes the victim count is three to four times higher than official figures.
Source: Radio Farda
