Honduran doctor in the US gets donation of 34 respirators for his country

Tegucigalpa, Honduras

The Honduran doctor Plutarco Castellanos, who resides in the United States, has obtained 34 ventilators or mechanical respirators to Honduras to care for seriously ill patients infected with coronavirus, reported this Friday the Presidency of the Central American country.

The specialist managed to obtain the fans with the Mass Lung & Allergy medical center in Massachusetts (United States), according to a statement from the Honduran Executive.

Castellanos, specialist in Pneumology, indicated that the devices were obtained before the emergency due to the pandemic of the coronavirus in Honduras, where 15 deaths and 222 confirmed infections are reported.

However, he noted that sending them to Honduras represents “a high cost” for him and his family, so he had to consider donating them to a newly built hospital in the country’s city of La Ceiba, through a foundation.

But upon learning of the emergency in Honduras, the doctor contacted the Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hernández, to manage the transfer of the mechanical fans to Tegucigalpa, where they will arrive next week.

Of the total number of respirators, 22 will be delivered to the Government and the other 12 will be managed by an action line led by Castellanos in Honduras, according to the information.

The fans are portable and although “they are used, they are in perfect condition and in good working order. We have tried them all,” said the specialist.

Castellanos is the director of the Department of Respiratory Therapy and Lung Function Laboratory at UMass Memorial HealthAliance Hospital.

The Honduran Government announced on March 19 the purchase of specialized equipment to serve those infected by COVID-19.

The team includes 140 respirators, 90 suckers and reagents to perform 4,200 coronavirus screening tests.

The Government ordered a curfew from March 17, which was extended until April 12, but the population has half complied, in some cases due to the need for people who go out on the streets without protection to request food. and in others due to carelessness.

Faced with pressure due to the lack of food in many homes, especially the poor, the government authorized the opening of supermarkets, pharmacies, banks and fuel dispensing stations on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, according to the latest number on the identification card.

The rest of the days the Government ordered the closure of all businesses, and only medical personnel, employees of authorized media and the National Risk Management System (Sinager) can circulate. EFE

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