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Last week in Morocco, all record numbers were set when it comes to the coronavirus health crisis. At the Casablanca University Hospital Ibn Rochd (CHU), the numbers of coronavirus cases admitted to intensive care and Covid-19-related deaths grew dramatically.
During a webinar held by the Moroccan Society of Medical Sciences (SMSM), Tuesday, the head of the Ibn Rochd hospital addressed the worrying situation in the Casablanca health facility. «Until now, we have been facing two challenges : Responding to Covid-19 and taking care of patients who suffer from other diseases», he recalled.
The head of the Casablanca University Hospital listed the measures taken to respond to the epidemiological situation. In fact, three intensive care units and three resuscitation services units as well as a convalescence unit were opened from the start of the pandemic, he added. In July, a single service dedicated to Covid-19 was maintained, while the other services resumed non-Covid-related activity.
A record of hospitalizations since the end of July
But around July 20, with the increase of positive cases in the region, CHU was forced to reopen two intensive care units and three additional resuscitation services units. «There is always the possibility of providing additional bedding capacity and we have the possibility of opening other resuscitation and intensive care services provided that we can deploy the necessary human resources», he added.
For patients treated from the start, Moulay Hicham Afif indicated that the CHU has performed more than 85,000 cumulative screening tests. Last week, the hospital admitted a total of 220 patients, with a significant increase in the number of patients admitted to the intensive care unit.
«The maximum we did during the month of March was 16 patients in intensive care. There was afterwards a decline in the number of weekly hospitalized patients, but from July on, there was an increase in the number of hospitalized patients», he underlined.
«Unfortunately, during the week of July 20 to 27, we broke the record as well as last week by admitting 48 patients to the intensive care units of the CHU».
Clearly increasing cases admitted to intensive care
«Since then, there has not been a day without a new admission to the intensive care unit. Unfortunately, the number of deaths has also increased since July 20», he warned.
«Last week, the number of cumulative deaths at the CHU was 24 people.In addition, the proportion of patients who arrive in a critical state, practically dying and who die a few hours after their arrival in the emergency room exceeds 20%».
For his part, Professor Houcine Barrou, Head of the intensive care unit at the Ibn Rochd University Hospital, recalled that during the first phase, more than half (55%) arrived in a critical condition. «Intubation was carried out on 36% of patients upon admission, but non-invasive ventilation was sufficient to meet the oxygen needs while the deaths amounted to 11», he explained.
However, for the month of July, «1 in 2 patients was intubated on admission, which is enormous when the mortality rate was 85% knowing that more than 20 patients had no comorbidity», he said. «During the last week of July, we also noticed that the patients arrive in critical conditions and 23% of them die in the emergency room. They arrive already dying, which is alarming», he said.
«Today, we reach more than 24 deaths per week, this is enormous and shows the gravity of the state of patients arriving at the hospital during this period.The figures speak for themselves».
In conclusion, the Head of the intensive care unit at the CHU Ibn Rochd insisted that it is imperative that everyone «understands the gravity of this situation; it is everyone's responsibility in order to respect the protective measures».
