Coronavirus: overwhelmed authorities in Bolivia

Text by: RFI Follow

The already failing Bolivian health system is unable to manage the flow of patients from Covid-19. The Andean country has more than 36,000 cases and around 1,300 deaths.

Publicity

With our correspondent in La Paz, Alice Campaignolle

Chaos. As the coronavirus epidemic peaks in Bolivia, there is total chaos. The victims of Covid-19 are buried in mass graves. The cemeteries, overflowed, are closed outright. In their homes, families wait forever before the bodies are lifted. While the totally destitute doctors, without any protective equipment, express their dissatisfaction.

The health system has been singled out in the country for several years now. Public infrastructure has improved over the past 15 years, but hospitals are still in a sorry state. Several establishments have also closed their doors in recent weeks due to the contagion of a large part of health personnel. At the hospital in Trinidad, in Beni, the most affected region, more than half of the doctors and nurses contracted the coronavirus.

And in the most isolated areas of the country, almost twice as large as France, there are simply no measures in place. No health centers, quarantine not applied. There, people die from coronavirus in the indifference of the central government.

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our Coronavirus Info column 

• Our  explanations  :
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→  Disparities and inequalities in the face of the coronavirus
→  Triple therapy, Discovery… update on research
→  Remdesivir, antibodies and immunity
→  The race for the vaccine is in full swing
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  :
→ “  The response, country by country  ”
→ “  Words of nurses  ”

• After Covid-19, towards a new world?

• See also the files of RFI Savoirs on the Covid-19:
→  Birth of a pandemic
→  Everyday life put to the test
→  The history of epidemics
→  Science facing the Covid-19
→  The geopolitical consequences

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• Bolivia
• Coronavirus