Impact Of COVID-19 In Latin America: Is There Enough Healthcare Infrastructure Available Across The Region?

As COVID-19 (coronavirus) continues to spread in the United States and across Latin America, health administrators need to be aware of the healthcare infrastructure available across the region. Because of the geographic proximity and extensive commercial ties between the U.S. and Latin America, it's crucial for healthcare organizations —such as public health agencies, hospitals, and insurance companies — to be aware of healthcare resources available in Latin America. To that end, the HospiScope database may offer key insights to help healthcare leaders to assess the capabilities of other countries to treat patients and contain the spread of COVID-19.

Developed in 2015 by Global Health Intelligence, HospiScope has detailed information on over 19,000 hospitals across Latin America. HospiScope features more than 140 data points per institution, including equipment counts (such as ventilators), medical personnel and healthcare technologies employed by the hospitals.

"As we've seen with other countries, COVID-19 has the potential to overwhelm healthcare systems as severely ill patients may require intensive care and equipment like ventilators," explains Guillaume Corpart, CEO of Global Health Intelligence. "A database like HospiScope can be useful for health officials who need to assess how well healthcare systems in Latin America can accommodate patients affected by coronavirus or other pandemics. So far, we're relieved to see that of the world's 120,000+ cases of coronavirus, only about 100 are in Latin America. We hope that authorities are successful in containing the spread and minimizing the effects on the population," says Corpart.

HospiScope's resources include detailed hospital data for countries that include Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Puerto Rico, and Uruguay.