(Bloomberg) -- Several top hospitals in Mexico City are turning Covid-19 patients away as the capital has become the epicenter of the disease in the country.
The ABC Medical Center, one of the top private care facilities in the country, said on Monday it couldn't accept virus patients because it had no available ventilators. Hospital Espanol and Medica Sur have also said they've run out of space.
Mexico City has confirmed 4,152 coronavirus cases, representing more than a quarter of the national total. But that number fails to capture the problem, because unlike in other parts of the world, more than a third of Mexico City patients have needed to be hospitalized, according to Health Ministry data.
Some public hospitals in the capital have also reached capacity. Twelve out of 56 have no beds available, the city said. Ten others have limited capacity.
On Monday, dozens of medical workers shut down a main street in the capital to protest lack of protective gear and protocols to tend to Covid-19 patients at their hospital.
Mexico has registered 15,529 cases and 1,434 deaths nationwide as of Monday night.
Half of all beds available in the city are being used by patients with acute respiratory infections, Mexico's Deputy Health Minister Hugo Lopez Gatell said Tuesday morning. “The rest remain available,” he said.
The shortage in Mexico City isn't hospital beds, but ventilators, some medical experts warn.
“There aren't enough,” said Francisco Moreno, head of internal medicine at ABC Medical Center. “Half or more of all patients are requiring ventilators and we've run out.”
Severe acute respiratory infections in Mexico have spiked 50% this season compared with a year ago, mostly due to coronavirus.
As of April 23, some private-care hospitals have been receiving Covid-19 patients covered by Mexico's public health care system due to an agreement with the government to increase hospital capacity.
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