The public health network of Peru on Saturday confirmed the death of 12 COVID-19  patients at Talara hospital, which ran out of oxygen on Friday, in the northern region of the country, EFE reported

Essalud de Piura, the region to which Talara belongs, lamented the death of 12 patients at Hospital II who arrived in critical condition infected by coronavirus. The Piura network treats 80% of patients in the region, located near the border with Ecuador and 100% of Talara’s patients, whether insured or not, the institution said. The Talara hospital, located in an oil-producing area, has a 10-ton isotank to supply oxygen to all inmates and 95 reserve balloons.

However, Essalud detailed that a few days ago they requested the replacement of liquid oxygen from the supplier, but the order was not fulfilled on the requested date. According to the company, Oxyman, the supply comes from Lima and they did not have the resource in the region.

Essalud reserves 80% of beds in the region for patients with the coronavirus. However, the issue of lack of oxygen is a regional problem, stressed the social insurance, which announced that next week another will be installed with the same capacity and an oxygen plant of 60 cubic meters that will help meet the excessive demand in Piura .

The Mayor of Talara, Jose Vitonera, denounced hours before the authorities of the local hospital had reported at least 15 deaths from lack of oxygen and complained that the state company, PetroPeru, had not fulfilled the promise to equip a hospital for patients with COVID-19 in the area.

Meanwhile, the representative of the Ombudsman’s Office in Piura, Cesar Orrego, reported that at least 13 people died on Friday in Talara hospital due to a lack of oxygen. “They have an isotank, but they ran out of oxygen. At 9 am this Friday they changed the oxygenation system, meanwhile, between the lack of oxygen and the change in the system, people died,” Orrego detailed to television station RPP Noticias.

“I have no history of such a serious situation in a hospital until now during the pandemic,” added Orrego.

The defense, the municipality, and the relatives of the dead demanded an investigation of the facts, at a time when the northern region is one of the most affected by the new increase in cases and deaths by the coronavirus.

After adding another 5,305 infected people in the last 24 hours, the total number of COVID-19 cases in Peru has reached 1,626,519, while the number of deaths—54,285, after reporting 307 deaths by Friday.