Rotary Newton Aycliffe has long standing links with Peru and has received news from there of the worsening situation with coronavirus spreading rapidly, doctors and nurses losing their lives because of lack of PPE and a health system on the verge of collapse. The epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic in Peru has moved to Arequipa, the second largest city after Lima, and with over one million residents. In recent weeks Arequipa has seen a huge increase in cases that has put the healthcare system under immense pressure with crowded under equipped hospitals and protests against authorities for an alleged lack of foresight before the spread of the infectious disease progressed.
Campana Medicos Solidarios Arequipa is urgently reaching out to you to help save lives by donating to a fund which will provide PPE to safeguard frontline workers and deliver other essential supplies such as oxygen and medicines to those who need it most. Cecilia Zuniga is a volunteer with Medicos Solidarios and tells us that they are so overwhelmed that many patients are having to sleep in tents outside the hospital on freezing winter nights with no heating and with doctors attempting to keep them as comfortable as possible. She asks ‘please donate what you can as our only motivation is to help this city stay afloat and protect the lives of the doctors and patients’.
To donate, please access their Go Fund Me account at https://bit.ly/2XIpfLY or go to their Facebook page at Medicos Solidarios Facebook – the link here to YouTube shows the state of the city https://youtu.be/3SsiXOUBbB8
