"There are too many patients for the number of doctors": Malian hospitals facing Covid-19

Audio 01:24

More than 190 people have died from Covid-19 in Mali.

(Illustrative image).

© AFP / Souleymane Ag Anara

Text by: RFI Follow

4 min

To date, the country officially has 194 deaths, a figure that has increased markedly in recent weeks, as has the number of cases recorded during this second wave of Covid-19.

Serious cases are more and more numerous and care centers such as that of the hospital in Mali are overwhelmed. 

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With our correspondent in Bamako,

Kaourou Magassa

Around a hundred people surround in small groups the building for the care of Covid-19 cases at the hospital in Mali.

In silence, they wait to hear from their loved ones or just their turn for a test.

“ 

We came, it's been an hour of time, the patient is still in the ambulance and we are waiting for treatment.

Maybe they are overwhelmed, I do not know, but it is still not normal, the provisions must be there, when a patient comes, he must be taken care of, it is an emergency

 ”, estimates a patient, in whom exasperation rises.

Impossible for accompanying persons to enter inside to avoid contamination.

On the premises, the staff are struggling to keep up.

“ 

There are too many patients for the number of doctors present.

Thank God my father manages to speak, I had him on the phone, he is on oxygen, but by his own admission, monitoring is very difficult,

 ”says Nana, whose father has been hospitalized for three days.

For a week, the staff in charge of Covid-19 at the hospital in Mali have been doubled, but this remains insufficient for the 80 patients hospitalized today.

But for Professor Yena, a thoracic surgeon at the hospital, more needs to be done.

“ 

There is no real policy for the development of barrier measures.

In town halls, weddings continue as if nothing had happened, deaths, funerals, it's the same, and even meetings, instead of teleworking, there are a lot of people who stay together

 ”, s 'he annoys.

As of December 13, Mali has nearly 2,000 active cases of coronavirus disease, a figure that has increased by nearly 80% compared to the previous week.

194 people have died from Covid-19 in the country.

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  • Mali

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