This archive report was first published on 23 April 2020.
As Tunisia emerges from a month-long lockdown, its hospitals have surprisingly avoided the overcrowding that many feared. However, the pandemic has brought about a long-overdue upgrade of public facilities, according to medics.
At the Abderrahmane Memmi hospital near Tunis, the intensive care ward has received a total of 29 patients since the start of the pandemic in March, with 11 of them succumbing to the disease. The hospital has reported a total of 38 deaths from COVID-19, a number that has remained stable in recent days.
Deputy head of the facility, Dr. Jalila Ben Khelil, attributed the low number of patients to the country's lockdown measures, describing them as 'courageous'. She noted that epidemiological data indicated that the situation was being brought under control, but cautioned that 'we cannot say we have passed the peak.'
Dr. Samia Ayed, a doctor working in intensive care, praised the hospital's equipment and protective gear, but acknowledged that they were not equipped to handle thousands of sick patients. The government has declared that the lockdown will be eased from May 4, after logging fewer than 1,000 cases since the start of March.
Dr. Mohamed Besbes, who runs the Abderrahmane Memmi facility, sounded a cautious note, warning that reducing the lockdown would have to be done incrementally. Dr. Ben Khelil, however, saw the pandemic as an opportunity to upgrade the public health system, which had been neglected for years.
