SULAIMANI — With hospitals dedicated to the treatment of coronavirus patients at capacity, relatives of those who have contracted the virus are pouring into the Akar factory in Sulaimani to buy oxygen tanks and respirator supplies for at-home treatment.
More than 300 bottles ranging in price from $110 to $200 depending on size are sold at the factory every day.
Factory owner Bahadin Hussein has been selling oxygen tanks for 27 years. He says sales in the last few months have been unprecedentedly high.
"If the situation continues like this, we will not be able to provide oxygen," Hussein told Rudaw.
"There is not much oxygen. We haven't run out of oxygen yet, but demand should not be this high. Every family can take up to two bottles... if they keep facing shortness of breath, we won't be able to keep up with the situation," Hussein said.
"At the same time, people have to take care of themselves. They should not ignore the measures," he added.
According to the Sulaimani health directorate statistics, 413 people tested positive for the virus in Sulaimani from October 1-5; 140 were hospitalized, and 38 people lost their lives. On October 6 alone, 12 people died after contracting the virus and 111 people tested positive, according to the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) health ministry.
The statistics have worried Sulaimani’s health authorities.
"In the past few months, if there were 200 cases, only 10 of them would be hospitalized. Only one to two patients would die per day. In the past four days [October 2-5], 28 people have lost their lives and 126 with serious symptoms were hospitalized. Of a hundred cases announced every day, 40 need to be hospitalized,' Sulaimani health directorate spokesperson Dr. Yad Naqshbandi told Rudaw.
"Life [measures] have been eased 100%. The situation is the same as the pre-pandemic times. I am sure that no other country has eased the measures in such an immediate way,' Naqshbandi said.
At the city's Shaheed Tahir Hospital, testing supplies are available, but beds are not, and patients are struggling.
"They [in hospital] all require medication and oxygen. Cases are increasing day by day, unfortunately," Shaheed Tahir Hospital director Azad Hawrami told Rudaw. "But fortunately, most of the confirmed cases don’t show much in the way of symptoms."
Reporting by Horvan Rafaat
Translation by Sarkawt Mohammed
