ZAMBIA – Trade Kings Foundation has donated advanced oxygen concentrators, respiratory accessories and hygiene products to level one hospitals and clinics in Lusaka, Zambia.
This is in response to the high demand of oxygen therapy needed to help COVID-19 patients who face difficulties in breathing.
As medical oxygen and cylinders are in short supply, Universal Mining in Kafue, a member of the Trade Kings Group is currently supplying oxygen to UTH and other medical facilities and has committed to doing so throughout the pandemic at no cost and free of charge.
Many African countries are facing a growing crisis of severe oxygen shortages which is leading to preventable deaths, international health agencies have warned.
A doctor in Somalia’s semi-autonomous region of Puntland says that between five and 10 of his Covid patients are dying because of lack of oxygen almost every day.
“These would all be preventable deaths if we had adequate oxygen,” said Dr Jama Abdi Mahamud at the government-run Gardo General Hospital.
Meanwhile, Uganda has for the past month been experiencing a perilous wave of the coronavirus, which is spiraling out of control.
The sharp rise in cases has meant demand for oxygen by Covid-19 patients has outpaced Ugandan oxygen plants manufacturing capacity.
Uganda’s 14 largest federal hospitals each have oxygen generating plants and they provide cylinders to smaller hospitals and clinics. But they are struggling to meet the increased demand. There’s also a shortage of cylinders to go around.
Uganda has the capacity to fill 3,000 oxygen cylinders per day. But if COVID hospitalizations continue to increase at the current rate, Willy Tabu, a physician based in Kampala who helps coordinate Mercy Corps response to the pandemic says, Uganda could need 25,000 cylinders a day in the next month.
There are no official figures available showing a rise in preventable deaths, but many low-income countries are struggling to access oxygen supplies amid surging coronavirus cases, and limited or no access to coronavirus vaccines.
Severely ill COVID patients in Africa die at rates far higher than anywhere else in the world.
A study of COVID mortality in 10 African nations, published last month in the British medical journal The Lancet, found that half of those admitted to intensive care units didn’t survive.
It also found that only half of hospitalized COVID patients got access to high-flow oxygen, the most effective delivery system.
Trade Kings Group, remains resolute to providing innovative products to customers and contribute to the saving of lives.
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