Cacuaco Municipal Hospital registers hundreds of severe cases of malaria daily

According to the director of that hospital, Fernando Mendes, extremely serious malaria patients have arrived at the hospital, especially children.

"All the cases arrive serious, they are handled outside, at the posts and by curious people, and when they arrive here these people are very serious. And with the few doctors we have, we end up losing many children", said Fernando Mendes, in statements to the public radio.

Fernando Mendes said that, in the last 24 hours, 180 patients with malaria were admitted, of which 100 were hospitalized, 55 in pediatrics and the rest in the medical service.

The health official stressed that, since last month, the hospital has seen the lack of means to care for patients worsen.

"Now we are worse, as of January we had no coverage at all. We started the day with the little we have, but from 12:00 noon onwards, everyone who shows up at that time no longer finds an antimalarial. The hospital is lacking in almost everything ", he stressed.

The director also complained about the lack of ambulance at the hospital in the last week, and the alternative for transferring patients "to avoid the death of patients", resorting to the family's own means, "which is not normal".

The municipality of Cacuaco is located about 30 kilometers from the city of Luanda and, according to the 2018 population projections of the National Statistics Institute, has a population of 1.2 million inhabitants.

In Angola, malaria is the main cause of deaths and hospital admissions, as well as the large number of school and work absenteeism.