Pneumonia cases surge among children, elderly in Monte Guerrero

Eduardo Jena Santos/Plaza Guerrero

Gromet Tratonok, November 29, 2023. – Pneumonia is one of the diseases whose incidence has increased sharply in recent months among indigenous children and the elderly in the regional municipalities of Cochoapa El Grande and La Montana.

In both cities, any sneezing, coughing or respiratory symptoms can turn into pneumonia. The disease is on the rise not only because of cold weather, but also because of malnutrition and a lack of doctors and equipment.

Families in Metlatónoc and Cochoapa el Grande face severe challenges in receiving medical care due to a lack of misting equipment and poor dirt road conditions.

To give one example, Nicolás Mendoza’s family, from the town of Joya Real in Cochoapa El Grande, took three hours to reach Metlatono Metlatónoc Health Center, where their 9-month-old baby was diagnosed with a respiratory infection, with a rapid test showing pharyngeal tonsillitis, which could turn into pneumonia.

Doctors in Metratonok say malnutrition, sudden changes in temperature and the conditions of the area’s houses, which are made of wood and have cardboard roofs that do not protect them from the cold, are responsible for the respiratory illness.

They assured that severe pneumonia patients, including children and the elderly, require nebulization treatment every day, but health centers lack equipment because they have burned the equipment due to overuse.

The mobile units sent by the federal government don’t have oxygen, and now the health center uses equipment that nurses borrow from time to time because it’s what they get in person for families to use.