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Video of Egyptian hospital patients struggling to breathe as oxygen supplies ran out and exhausted health workers collapsing to the floor has stirred outrage at the government’s COVID-19 response, Middle East Eye reports.
Oxygen supply is a common problem in Egypt’s public hospitals, the advocacy group Egypt Watch notes. (The problem exists in many resource-poor countries, as detailed in a recent Global Health NOW commentary.)
Officials maintain the country has sufficient oxygen, according to Egypt Independent, blaming the deaths instead on negligence and preexisting health conditions.
Datapoint: As of today, Egypt has 143,464 recorded cases and 7,863 deaths,according to the Johns Hopkins University tracker.
However, some believe the country’s actual figures are 10X higher than reported. And, while many Middle East and North Africa countries have reduced fatality rates by this stage, Egypt remains an outlier, as a Brookings Institution infographic shows.
Postscript: Security officials summoned Ahmed Mamdouh, who shot the hospital video, for questioning yesterday over his footage, according to Middle East Eye.
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