Una mirada del Covid desde México / A Mexican doctor’s candid look at Covid

Por Guillermo Rojas y Victoria Lis Marino

Pero en los países sudamericanos, la contienda está lejos de ganarse y no alcanzan ni los recursos, ni los conocimientos ni los medicamentos para ayudar a la gente.

La Semana visitó México recientemente donde indagó entre la comunidad médica sobre el estado de la pandemia.

“Hay que entender que el virus SARSCOV 2 hasta la actualidad no tiene cura”, dijo Alejandro Rafael Toledo Ruiz, médico generalista en el Distrito Federal. “Hasta el momento las vacunas sólo le cierran las puertas al virus, evitando que se complique dentro del cuerpo, para colmo de males las que hay no alcanzan y ni siquiera son de buena calidad”.

Durante la pandemia Toledo Ruiz atendía a 15 pacientes con Covid diarios, y tuvo la suerte de nunca contagiarse, a pesar de estar en la primera línea de trincheras. Pero sabía que no podía permitirse el lujo de tener miedo, porque él era doctor, y sabía que atender era su deber, a pesar de no estar protegido por los protocolos de los que sí disponían los hospitales. “Aquí no venía nadie derivado, estábamos solos con los pacientes”, explicó, destacando que en su zona municipal más de 26 médicos fallecieron.  “Es la lucha diaria del medico contra la muerte y el vencimiento de esta, y sabemos que el mismo médico puede caer”.

Se calcula que en todo el país murieron más de 15.000 médicos, cifra que para Toledo Ruiz no es culpa ni del gobierno, ni de la letalidad del virus, sino de la falta de educación de su pueblo.

“Lo que no se conoce a nivel mundial es la ignorancia del pueblo mejicano, hay muchos ignorantes que hasta la fecha no creen en el Covid, no se cuidan, no protegen, pero si diseminan el virus”, dijo el médico.  “Tristemente la educación que se quiso dar no fue recibida por la población, y por eso hay que agradecer que no haya más muertes de las que hay”.

En este momento México está entrando en la tercera ola de la pandemia, una que a criterio de Toledo Ruiz podría durar años, todos los necesarios para que la sociedad se acostumbre a vivir con el virus y finalmente se desarrollen los anticuerpos necesarios para seguir adelante.

Para Toledo Ruiz ningún gobierno actuó como debía, especialmente en los países sudamericanos, donde los esfuerzos se centraron en la población anciana y se descuidó a las generaciones en edad productiva, generando daños económicos irreparables.

“Primero tenían que vacunar a la gente productiva, activa, hay que levantar la economía y después a todos los demás. Este virus va a matar a quien tenga que matar y salvar al resto”, aseguró con honestidad.

A todos quienes están allí afuera pensando en que todo ha terminado Toledo Ruiz los invita a seguir luchando por no contagiar a los demás. “Si yo me cuido, tu te cuidas, y nos cuidamos todos. Todos somos familia, todos somos humanos, no me gustaría perecer por culpa de la ignorancia de la gente”, remarcó. (La Semana)

A Mexican doctor’s candid look at Covid

By Guillermo Rojas and Victoria Lis Marino | México, DF

Some might say the times of the pandemic are over. Seeing the audience at sports events smiling without masks and the immediate return of mass events in the showbiz industry seems proof enough to reach that conclusion. But in the South American countries, the skirmish is far from victory, and resources, knowledge and drugs are not nearly enough to save those that would also want to smile.

La Semana recently visited Mexico where we mixed with the community and consulted health professionals on the state of the pandemic.

“We must understand SARSCOV 2 so far lacks a cure,” said Alejandro Rafael Toledo Ruiz, general doctor in the Federal District. “Vaccines are only closing the door for the virus to spread, avoiding complications inside the body, but here they are scarce and not even of good quality.”

In the heat of the battle Toledo Ruiz received more than 15 patients a day with Covid, and considering the circumstances he was lucky not to get sick despite receiving fire on the front line. But he knew he could not afford to be afraid. He knew practicing medicine was his duty, even if he wasn’t protected under the protocols available to those doctors working in hospitals.

“Here the patients came walking to the practice, I was the first one to see them and was completely alone with them,” he stated, highlighting that in his district more than 26 doctors died. 

“It is the daily struggle of the doctor against death, and we know we can all fall,” he acknowledged.

So far Mexico has reported the deaths of more than 15,000 doctors, a number that for Toledo Ruiz is not to be blamed on the lethality of the virus, nor on the government’s actions, but on the lack of education of all Mexicans.

“What the world doesn’t really know is the ignorance of the Mexican people, here there are some that believe Covid is fake, they do not take care of themselves, they do not protect others, but they do spread it,” explained Toledo Ruiz. “Sadly, the education that was provided during the pandemic was not received by the people, which is why we have to thank God the number of deaths is not that high.”

Mexico is now entering the third wave of the pandemic, one that according to Toledo Ruiz could last years, something necessary for the creation of heard immunity.

According to Toledo Ruiz not even one government acted as it should during Covid times, especially in South American countries where all the efforts concentrated on the senior population and those of working age were disregarded, causing irreparable economic damages to society.

“First, they should have vaccinated the active working force, because the economy needs to keep on running, then the rest. This virus is meant to kill who it has to kill and save the ones that are meant to be saved,” he said frankly.

To all those out there who believe this is over, Toledo Ruiz reminds them to keep on fighting to avoid contracting the deadly disease.

“If I take care of myself, you take care of yourself, then we all take care. In this world we are all family, we are humans, and I would not like to die out of the ignorance of my people,” he concluded. (La Semana)