Hurricane stresses Puerto Rico's healthcare system

Описание: (30 Sep 2017) The fall out from Hurricane Maris has continued to put pressure on Puerto Rico's healthcare system.
Martin Lopez was shot in the hand last Saturday by two thieves who made off with his precious cans of fuel in the aftermath of the hurricane.
He was rushed to Centro Medico, a trauma centre in San Juan where in ordinary circumstances he would be quickly treated by surgeons.
But five days later, the 26-year-old cook was still waiting because only a fraction of the operating rooms were available due to an island-wide breakdown in electrical power.
He finally received the surgery and the hospital said he was on the mend Friday, but the same can't be said for Puerto Rico's badly stressed medical system.
"Thank god that I'm okay and recovering," he said from an air-conditioned medical tent set up by the US Department of Health and Human Services on the grounds of Centro Medico.
Of all the problems unleashed by the hurricane the plight of overtaxed hospitals and smaller clinics - and health care in general - is one of the most worrying for officials grappling with recovery efforts.
The health system in the US territory was already precarious, with a population that is generally sicker, older and poorer than that of the mainland, long waits and a severe shortage of specialists as a result of a decade-long economic recession.
Maria knocked out electricity to the entire island, and only a handful of Puerto Rico's 63 hospitals had generators operating at full power.
Even those started to falter amid a shortage of diesel to fuel them and a complete breakdown in the distribution network.
Patients were sent to Centro Medico and several other major facilities, quickly overwhelming them.
The situation is starting to improve, with about half of the hospitals getting direct power or priority shipments of diesel, but that barely addresses the challenges facing the island as a whole.
Emergency rooms in Arecibo and Ponce were closed Friday because they did not have enough diesel.
Hospitals are struggling to treat a wide variety of conditions in Maria's wake.
On Saturday, El Maestro Hospital was partially open and taking in emergency only patients.
Other areas of the hospital are dark with nurses taking patient information in the dark.

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