Faced with respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus, the ranks of distressed patients are growing in Latin American and other developing countries to try to obtain medical oxygen, which is far from being sufficiently available on an industrial scale.
Although vital for the effective treatment of patients with COVID-19, access to oxygen, relatively easy in Europe and North America, is limited in these countries due to cost, poor infrastructure and logistical barriers, explains Unitaid, the sponsored international organization. by WHO, which is in charge of centralizing the acquisition of treatment.
In February, the WHO estimated that more than half a million people in these countries needed 1.2 million bottles of oxygen a day.
Unitaid estimates its needs at $ 1.6 billion for the purchase of bottles for the poorest countries this year: "A global emergency that requires a global response."
Medicinal oxygen is classified as a medicine, an essential input that must be used rationally and carefully, since it is one of the most important treatments for the coronavirus, vital for the most seriously ill and the main reason why they end up being hospitalized in hospitals.
Oxygen is extracted from the atmosphere, generated in air separation plants, purified, then expanded into a liquid state and kept in that state at a temperature of -186 degrees.
Oxygen is transported in tanker trucks - a mobile tank can carry up to 10,000 liters of liquid oxygen - to hospitals where it is stored in cryogenic containers.
Patients obtain oxygen through a network of pipes, but some hospitals are not prepared for this and receive it in portable gas cylinders that are administered directly to patients.

SHOTLIST
1. Various of oxygen tubes in La Paz
2. Various from an oxygen plant in Haryana
3. Various patients with Covid-19 in Lima transferred in an oxygen chamber
4. Various of patients with Covid-19 being treated in Buenos Aires
5. Various of patients with Covid-19 being treated in Quito
6. Various of Covid-19 patients being treated in Islamabad
STORYLINE
Faced with respiratory failure caused by the coronavirus, the ranks of distressed patients are growing in Latin American and other developing countries to try to obtain medical oxygen, which is far from being sufficiently available on an industrial scale.
Although vital for the effective treatment of patients with COVID-19, access to oxygen, relatively easy in Europe and North America, is limited in these countries due to cost, poor infrastructure and logistical barriers, explains Unitaid, the sponsored international organization. by WHO, which is in charge of centralizing the acquisition of treatment.
In February, the WHO estimated that more than half a million people in these countries needed 1.2 million bottles of oxygen a day.
Unitaid estimates its needs at $ 1.6 billion for the purchase of bottles for the poorest countries this year: "A global emergency that requires a global response."
Medicinal oxygen is classified as a medicine, an essential input that must be used rationally and carefully, since it is one of the most important treatments for the coronavirus, vital for the most seriously ill and the main reason why they end up being hospitalized in hospitals.
Oxygen is extracted from the atmosphere, generated in air separation plants, purified, then expanded into a liquid state and kept in that state at a temperature of -186 degrees.
Oxygen is transported in tanker trucks - a mobile tank can carry up to 10,000 liters of liquid oxygen - to hospitals where it is stored in cryogenic containers.
Patients obtain oxygen through a network of pipes, but some hospitals are not prepared for this and receive it in portable gas cylinders that are administered directly to patients.