Baja California is not only under the red traffic lights caused by COVID-19, but also with a worrying situation in its hospitals, something that had already circulated in various media and social networks.
Although today the hospital occupation at a state level is 85%, it was the hospitals of the Department of Health that were most affected after reporting an occupation of 91%, according to its head, Dr. Alonso Pérez Rico.
"The hospitals are bursting at the seams. You know it, it is not a secret, both private and public, now we have to take care of all of us", mentioned the Secretary this Tuesday.
Because of this situation is that more medical personnel are being hired in Baja California to support in the new floors that will be opened in order to face the pandemic.
"In the middle of Christmas, during the last week of the year, we are still looking for who to hire to get them in. And in this sense we have a tired medical field, there were doctors and nurses who were sheltered in their homes for six months because they are vulnerable people, but those who have been there since the fight began are still on the front line and are going to continue, what Christmas are you going to give them, they come out of the hospitals they see all the mobility and they say: why am I taking a risk, what is this about? That's why you have to help us at this time," asked Pérez Rico.
Regarding the availability of beds, of which there are 122 in the entity, he commented that this is a very dynamic situation since patients are being discharged and admitted continuously. He even mentioned that in a single shift up to 15 people who require medical evaluation can arrive, and just as all the beds can be full on that shift, they can also be emptied.
This is how hospital saturation is becoming a reality in Baja California, because people are arriving after five days with respiratory insufficiency, "70% of those who come to the hospitals are to be admitted, they are arriving because they can no longer breathe," said Pérez Rico, who added that this is why for the past nine months citizens have been asked to take joint responsibility.
"There are still people who do not believe, who say: if I get sick, I get sick. Well, yes, the thing is that if they get sick they go to the hospital and now they say: help me, save me. And the rest of us pay for them, because they are the ones who are making others sick," he said.
According to the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Marcelo Ebrard, tomorrow more than one million vaccines against COVID-19 will arrive to Mexico, however, Pérez Rico emphasized that this amount will not be enough to cover 60% of the population, which is what is needed now to have herd immunity and to end the pandemic, "it will not be a reality", so he strongly requested to reduce mobility in the region and to take care with all the prevention measures already set.
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