The French army will deliver more than 100 tons of medical oxygen to the island, which is suffering the full brunt of a new wave of the Covid-19 epidemic.
To cope with the outbreak, the army is sending oxygen to the West Indies (Illustrative image) Photo Credits: © Alexandros Michailidis / Shutterstock
Avoid oxygen shortage. This is the objective of the French army, which will deliver more than 100 tonnes of medical oxygen to Martinique. The island has been experiencing, like its neighbor Guadeloupe, an explosion of cases of the Delta variant in recent weeks which has pushed hospitals to the brink of collapse.
Oxygen should arrive by boat from Guyana and “should dock in Fort-de-France on August 19 to make these oxygen stocks available to the Regional Health Agency”, indicated the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
Supply Martinique and Guadeloupe
“We are planning several rotations in order to continue this flow of oxygen supply from Guyana to the West Indies”, said Florence Parly, the Minister of the Armed Forces, on France Info.
Guadeloupe, where hospitals are also in great difficulty, will also be affected by this supply, according to the local Regional Health Agency.
Prevent shortage
If Martinique is not currently experiencing a shortage of oxygen, it is a question of preventing possible tensions, specified the ministry of overseas. At the same time, the French army “continues its commitment within the framework of Operation Résiliences aux Antilles” with the installation of a military resuscitation module (MMR).
This field hospital offers a capacity of 16 additional intensive care beds at the CHU of Fort-de-France, in Martinique. The objective is “to reach 20 operational beds in the next few hours“, added the Ministry of the Armed Forces.
