São Paulo’s ICUs at 75-percent capacity, city turns to private hospitals for help

The number of Covid-19 deaths recorded in the city of São Paulo jumped from 422 to 1,337 in the space of 18 days. In the same period, the number of confirmed infections also tripled, reaching 24,041. This vertiginous growth has made the city start looking for vacancies on the private health system in order to expand its intensive care capacity. On Monday, reporter André Cabette Fábio talked about initiatives to merge the public and private networks. According to the city’s Health Secretary, Edson Aparecido, the municipal public system is already operating at 75 percent of its ICU capacity. Meanwhile, in São Paulo’s private hospitals, there are an estimated 1,500 vacant ICU beds.

However, private sector representatives say that the government has been slow to seek them out and make up for the ICU deficit. The city of São Paulo has already set up two field hospitals: one at the Pacaembu football stadium, another at the Anhembi convention center, and a third is being built in Ibirapuera Park.

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