CHANDUY, Ecuador (Reuters) – When a group of villagers in the Ecuadorean fishing neighborhood of El Real came down with coughs and fevers in early April, nobody made certain if they had the coronavirus – and no health workers were available to diagnose or treat them.
Medical Professional Bolivar Jalca, who is dealing with clients experiencing symptoms constant with COVID-19, positions for a photo outside Manglaralto Health center, during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Manglaralto, Ecuador, May 2,2020 REUTERS/Vicente Gaibor del Pino SEARCH “RURAL ECUADOR COVID-19” FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH “WIDER IMAGE” FOR ALL STORIES.
Their regional physician, like a number of rural Ecuador’s health workers, had been moved to the nation’s biggest city, Guayaquil. There, the COVID-19 pandemic had actually overwhelmed hospitals and left authorities having a hard time to gather bodies.
The villagers state they were just able to offer standard solutions such as lemon and eucalyptus to the ill, 11 of whom died of what homeowners believe was the coronavirus. Their real cause of death stays unidentified since they were never ever tested.
” We virtually provide emergency treatment with alternative medicine. We don’t have a health center and I think that’s why we have actually had those deaths,” said Manuel Cruz, 37, an artesanal fisherman who now invests much of his time assisting other villagers get health care.
” I ask the authorities to focus on those people in remote locations,” said Cruz, who stated that El Real generally