“You have 50 patients, there are two places”: in the West Indies, doctors cornered to sort it out

Despite the early hour, Cyrille Chabartier has drawn features in his office of the multipurpose intensive care unit at the Pierre-Zobda-Quitman hospital, in Fort-de-France. This Thursday, August 19, this anesthesiologist-resuscitator has just finished a call in this service which he directs within the main site of the university hospital (CHU) of Martinique. Twenty-four hours trying to save 55 patients, all with severe forms of Covid-19. For many of them, despite the efforts of the healthcare team, the outcome is fatal. “There are a lot of deaths. Last night we had the death of a young man of 31 years. Death of the Covid, observes Doctor Chabartier with resignation. He was somewhat overweight, but we also have people who have very serious forms, without presenting any risk factor. “

Martinique has been facing an unprecedented wave of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic for six weeks now. In his televised address on July 12, President Emmanuel Macron declared a state of health emergency on this Caribbean island and imposed a first curfew. However, despite the tightening of restrictions, then the entry of the territory into reinforced confinement on August 10, the surge in Covid-19 cases continues inexorably.

Tuesday August 17, the regional health agency (ARS) of Martinique announced that the incidence rate was established at 1,147 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in the week of August 9 to 15. This dizzying figure is, paradoxically, good news: a week earlier, the incidence rate was 1,187. Martinique could therefore have passed the peak of the fourth wave of the pandemic. “This downward trend will have to be confirmed next week”, soberly indicates the last press release of the ARS.

“22 patients waiting”

This relative lull in terms of screening is far from having reached the island’s hospital structures. The number of hospitalized patients continues to increase: on August 17, it stood at 444 patients with Covid-19 in hospitals and clinics in Martinique, including 396 at the CHU. This is 103 more than the previous week. In two months, the number of places in critical care quadrupled in the territory: it was increased to 100, including 55 at the CHU and 18 in the military resuscitation module, deployed in Fort-de-France at the beginning of August.

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