Laura Poy Solano
Newspaper La Jornada
Saturday July 9, 2022, p. 6
The accelerated growth of covid-19 infections registered in Mexico in recent days is reflected in the hospital occupancy rate, which grew from 10 to 13 percent in less than a week. Data from the Ministry of Health (Ssa) report 130 medical units with 70 percent or more occupancy in general beds; 10 sanatoriums in ventilated beds, and 12 more in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds.
The Information System of the IRAG Network (Serious Acute Respiratory Infections) notified until this Friday that in general beds, 108 hospitals are saturated. Of these, 18 are located in Mexico City, nine in Nuevo León, and seven in the state of Mexico, Coahuila and Chihuahua, respectively.
The entities with the highest rates of saturation in general beds are: Guerrero (42.2 percent); Chihuahua (37.3); Queretaro (37); Aguascalientes (34.7); Mexico City (34.1), and Colima (32.2 percent). However, there are 19 states that exceed the national occupancy average of 13 percent.
In beds with a ventilator, intended for patients in critical condition, the Ssa indicates that there are 10 saturated hospitals. Three of them are located in Mexico City: General Hospital Dr. Manuel Gea González; Hospital of Specialties of the National Medical Center La Raza and the National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery Manuel Velasco Suárez.
▲ Guerrero, Chihuahua, Querétaro, Aguascalientes and Mexico City are the five entities with the highest percentage of need for beds.Photo Marco Pelaez
Bed occupancy concerns in Querétaro
At least 11 entities exceed the national average of 3 percent in beds with a fan, since Querétaro reported an occupancy of 11.1 percent; Colima, 8.6; Baja California Sur, 8.3; Sound, 6; Yucatan, 5.7; Chihuahua, 4.8; Warrior, 4.6; Coahuila, 4.1; Nuevo León, 4, and Mexico City, with 3.6 percent.
The report highlights that in ICU beds, of the 12 hospitals with an occupancy of 70 percent or more, nine are reported saturated. Of them, two are located in the capital of the country and at least one in Sinaloa, Veracruz, state of Mexico, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Baja California.
However, Querétaro is the only state that is reported with 83.3 percent occupancy of its ICU beds for the care of covid patients, followed by Hidalgo, with 50 percent; Coahuila, with 37.5, and the state of Mexico, with 24.5 percent; while Aguascalientes and Baja California report 20 percent, respectively.
