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São Paulo – For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the city of São Paulo registered a lack of oxygen in a health unit. Ten patients treated at the Ermelino Matarazzo UPA, in the East Zone of the city of São Paulo, had to be transferred on Friday night. According to the municipal secretary of Health, Edson Aparecido, the problem was caused by the lack of supply for the White Martins company, the main producer of the input in the country. The company denies that there was a problem with the oxygen supply.
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UPAs provide first aid to patients with Covid-19 symptoms. Given the high occupancy of ICU beds in hospitals, many UPAs have been used to hospitalize patients who need intubation, as happened in the East Zone unit. In a note, White Martins said it warned of “the risks involved in transforming emergency care units into inpatient units for Covid-19 patients without proper planning.”
According to the company, in general, health units such as the UPA do not have internal oxygen distribution networks of the appropriate size to expand consumption, which aggravates “the condition of gas supply to support ventilators, inhalers and other therapeutic practices. “. Also according to the company, “these conditions interfere with the pressure necessary to power the ventilators used in critically ill patients, leading to the misperception that there is a lack of gas.”
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At the Ermelino Matarazzo UPA alone, oxygen consumption increased 16 times, according to White Martins, from 89 cubic meters per day in December 2020 to 1,453 cubic meters per day on March 18.
According to Aparecido, oxygen consumption in the municipal health system as a whole tripled from January to March. The jump went from 55 thousand cubic meters a day to 178 thousand. To try to solve this, the municipality asked the Federation of Industries of the State of São Paulo (Fiesp) for help and is studying the issuance of a decree to regulate the distribution of oxygen in São Paulo:
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– It would be an emergency measure to prioritize the supply of oxygen in public hospitals, since the company committed a major failure and the municipality cannot run that risk – said the secretary.
With oxygen demand pressed by the new wave of the pandemic, Aparecido borrowed 250 cylinders from Fiesp.
– The steel industry, mechanics and printing have many oxygen cylinders. The intention is to have a reserve so as not to risk getting lost. In two months, when the situation improves, we will return the cylinders. Under normal conditions, we supply oxygen to the UPAS once a week. Now, we need to supply three times a day due to the increase in the number of patients arriving with Covid-19, Aparecido explained.
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In a note sent to GLOBO, White Martins indicated that it notified the UPA of Ermelino Matarazzo to previously report “any increase in the consumption” of oxygen, with the aim of “evaluating and adapting its installed equipment (tank and cylinders) and logistics network” . “To date, White Martins has not received any comments from this unit on forecasting demand or needs for increased oxygen consumption, even in the scenario described above,” the company said.
“White Martins reports that there was no lack of oxygen for UPA Ermelino Matarazzo, even having increased exponentially (16 times) the consumption of the product in the unit”, says the note. “The unit’s oxygen supply system worked so that the product continued to be supplied uninterruptedly, in accordance with the regulations in force in the country (NBR-12188 from ABNT and RDC 50 from Anvisa). On March 19, 2021, UPA consumed all the product from the oxygen tank (primary supply) and the system was started automatically using the cylinder reserve plant (secondary supply) .This reserve plant (equipped with two batteries of independent cylinder) came into operation as established by the aforementioned standard. the secondary supply, the primary supply (tank) was filled, with no shortage of product. “
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The secretary also said this Saturday that the Doctor Ignácio de Proença Gouveia Municipal Hospital, also known as Hospital João 23, in Mooca, in the Eastern Zone, had a reserve of just one hour of oxygen until the company refuels.
A survey by the National Front of Mayors (FNP) carried out between Thursday and last Friday indicates that oxygen for Covid patients is about to run out in at least 76 municipalities in 15 states.
