The Colombian Association of Critical Medicine and Intensive Care (AMCI) indicated that a behavior that they have called the “boomerang effect” is being observed due to the increase in people admitted to intensive care units (ICU) for diseases other than COVID-19.
According to the medical association, on August 3, 2020, 1,800 non-COVID-19 patients were registered in critical condition and until the 25th of the same month the figure rose to 2,200, increasing by 400 new patients with diseases other than the pandemic.
“This behavior that we have called the boomerang effect may result from poor control of progressive chronic diseases attributed to barriers to access to care and loss of adherence to risk-modifying interventions,” explained the association in a document.
However, the AMCI called for personal care since although some services and economic sectors have been reactivated, “the pandemic is not under control” in Colombia.
They specified that, although the number of new cases in Colombia has shown a slowdown of close to 20%, in the last 7 days the number of deaths from COVID-19 has been at values close to 300 per day in this period of time.
“The circulation of the virus and its dispersion in the community persists,” emphasized the medical association, adding that the number of cases in intensive care in Colombia has been in the order of 4,200-4,300 in the last 4 weeks.
Although the association highlighted the medical equipment and the expansion of ICUs, it indicated that after the pandemic specialized human talent has decreased, since some are sick and others have died from COVID-19.
“A requirement for a greater number of ICU beds will be limited by the availability of competent human talent, access to technologies, currently in short supply, and the high financial costs that demand the care of these patients,” warned the AMCI.
In this sense, the Ministry of Health reported that progress has been made in continuous training with more than 40 virtual courses, reaching 95 thousand professionals and specialists.
In this new phase of economic reactivation, the AMCI also presented several proposals, including epidemiological monitoring and surveillance.
The minister explained that the decrease in the practice of tests is due to the fact that “the demand for these has decreased since there is a decrease in ICUs.”
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