The 46-year-old emergency specialist manages intensive care units (ICUs) at the Cardiovascular Hospital in Soacha, a working-class suburb of Colombia’s capital Bogotá. Since the pandemic began, he says he has seen the number of healthcare workers under his watch dwindle, even as the hospital expands its ICU to confront a relentless second wave of cases.
Velandia is proud of the hospital’s response to Covid-19 and recently showed CNN a new ICU facility that added 12 beds to the hospital’s arsenal. But he is also worried about his team — that same day, he said 5% of his staff was at home, sick with Covid. One was intubated in the emergency ward where they work.
Even for health workers who’ve avoided infection so far, fear and fatigue have crippled the unit after the near year-long pandemic.
“My team… They are tired, exhausted. They spend as many as 24 or 36 hours here, working all the time and we don’t have any more personnel,” Velandia told CNN.
Velandia looks with frustration at…