At the beginning of April 2020, the news of the existence of clandestine graves in Iquitos (north), the main city of the Peruvian Amazon, let the horror of the health tragedy explode. Local authorities had approved the mass burial of the Covid-19 dead in a vacant lot, according to the Associated Press, as families believed the bodies were interred in the local cemetery. The facts go back almost a year, but the history, symbol of a country whose hospital and funeral services have reached saturation, resonates today with force, while the month of April will have been the deadliest since start of the epidemic.
According to official figures from the Ministry of Health, Peru records an average of more than 300 deaths per day, for a population of 33 million. In total, there have been more than 60,000 deaths since the start of the pandemic. A figure that could actually approach triple, or 164,600 deaths, according to the national death registry, the Sinadef, which also compiles the “suspicious” and “compatible” deaths with the Covid-19. Peru would thus be the country with the highest excess mortality in the world, in relation to its population.
Numbers “Appalling”, in the words of the director of the Medical College, Miguel Palacios. “The virus is spreading uncontrollably”, while the Peruvians are in full electoral campaign for the second round of the general elections, on June 6.
Nearly 1.8 million people have been infected. The lack of beds in intensive care units and the serious shortage of oxygen partly explain this dramatic health situation. Miguel Palacios recalls that the medical staff, “Hard hit”, runs out. More than 430 doctors have died since the start of the epidemic; “We lack human resources”, he laments. According to the National Institute of Health, the Brazilian variant is responsible for 40% of new infections in Lima, the capital.
Necessary controls
Patients, whom hospitals no longer have the capacity to take care of, are forced to self-medicate at home. In recent months, Peru has seen, as in 2020, huge queues form in front of oxygen suppliers, made up of relatives of desperate patients, in search of the precious gas. Demand increased by 300% during the second wave, and the authorities estimate that 100 tonnes per day are missing to cover the needs. Chile must alleviate the shortage by sending Peru 40 tons of oxygen per week, transported by tankers until the end of August, but this will remain insufficient.
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