Portugal announced last week that it had accepted assistance from France in the fight against the coronavirus following an explosion of cases in recent days.
Monday February 15, a team of four French caregivers arrived in Portugal, while the country is hard hit by the third wave of the coronavirus epidemic. These caregivers come to lend a helping hand to the staff of a hospital in the southern suburbs of Lisbon. The Portuguese government announced last week that it had accepted the aid offered by France and Luxembourg. The latter will also send four caregivers, expected Tuesday at Evora hospital (south-east).
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The French nursing team is made up of an emergency doctor specializing in resuscitation, two nurse anesthetists and a Portuguese-speaking nurse. They are two professionals and two volunteers from the firefighters from Lille, Lyon, Foix and Carcassonne. They were received at Garcia de Orta Hospital, Almada, by Deputy Secretary of State for Health Antonio Lacerda Sales. He thanked France for a help which, according to him, testifies to a Europe “alive and united». «I never thought of working here and in this very special situation I have the opportunity to help my country. It’s a great chance for meNurse Sandra Fleury, born in France to Portuguese parents, told the press.
The explosion of coronavirus cases during the month of January caused a saturation of Portuguese hospitals. In Almada, the intensive care unit of Garcia de Orta hospital counted 31 critical patients on Monday, 25 of whom were suffering from Covid, for a total of 36 beds. “We’ve been experiencing some lull since last weekend“, Explained its manager, Doctor Antero Fernandes, adding however that”the occupancy rate remains high and the cooperation of French professionals is fully justified».
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With the general confinement decreed in mid-January, the rate of new contagions has sharply reduced and Portugal still had more than 4,800 hospitalized patients on Monday, including nearly 800 in intensive care. Portugal had already accepted cooperation from Germany, which sent a team of 26 military doctors and nurses, assigned to an intensive care unit with eight beds in a private hospital in Lisbon. In total, the Covid-19 has killed more than 15,400 in Portugal since the start of the pandemic.
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