​Bogotá D.C., August 3, 2020. Néstor Raimondi, president of the Pan American and Iberian Federation of Critical Medicine and Intensive Care (FEPIMCTI), commended the work in Colombia in the care of covid-19. "Your country has bought a lot of time and learned from the countries of the northern hemisphere in being able to equip itself, to be able to adapt human resources to the needs of this pandemic and the care requirement of these patients," he said.

This was said in the Prevention and Action program of the Presidency of the Republic, adding that although Latin America faced the current pandemic, no country was prepared for such magnitude. However, the scenario has allowed us to learn many things, one of them is that covid-19 patients require much more assistance from the therapeutic team and intensive therapy.

"The doctor-patient relationship has changed. Now it is much more limited, therefore the human resource is more reduced, and this has led to scientific societies having to respond very quickly in these four months of pandemic," Raimondi explained.

This is why Colombia, like other countries in the world, has had to resort to human talent such as cardiologists, anesthesiologists, among other specialists, to train in intensive care.

Additionally, he added that Colombia is a very good example, "not only from the point of view of virtual training, but new technology such as telemedicine has been adopted, with which we have worked to reach to places where there were no specialties."

Call to continue with the measures

Given the scenario in which covid-19 is here to stay, it is still unknown how long the pandemic will last, there is still a lot of research for a vaccine and there is a lack of evidence for effective treatments. Raimondi insisted on care using the face mask, social distancing and hand washing.

For the expert, today these are the measures with the most evidence of effectiveness. "Let us remember that the virus does not look for us, we find covid-19 and therefore we have to protect ourselves, take care of ourselves and, above all, the elderly population, which is the group with the highest lethality, the one that is more easily infected and has the highest mortality rate," said.

"There is also the young population that is asymptomatic and that in many cases are the ones that transmit the virus. So, you have to have correct basic measures, keep working because this is what is going to save us from this virus, for the moment," he concluded.