LISBON – A German military plane carrying over 20 doctors and nurses together with ventilators and hospital beds arrived in coronavirus-stricken Portugal on Wednesday.
The German team will manage a new unit of eight intensive care units beds in Hospital da Luz in Lisbon which was equipped but lacked the staff to operate, health minister Marta Temido said.
The medical team, consisting of eight doctors and 18 nurses, brought with them 150 hospital beds and 50 ventilators.
“This is a vivid sign of European solidarity and a symbol of hope,” German Ambassador Martin Ney said at the military base.
Hospitals across Portugal appear on the verge of collapse, with ambulances sometimes queuing for hours because of a lack of beds while some health units are struggling to find enough refrigerated space to preserve the dead bodies. (Reuters)
