An influx of donations is saving Tunisia from a health crisis. Austria, Malta and Luxembourg delivered oxygen, Covid vaccines and medical aid to Tunisia on Thursday, which has the highest death toll in North Africa. The Grand Duchy provided Tunisia with seven ventilators to treat patients in respiratory distress.
The equipment was delivered in response to Tunisia's request for support through the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism. The aid made available by Luxembourg, as well as that of other EU Member States, was flown to Tunis by a military flight on 29 July 2021 from the French military airport of Villacoublay.
Donations from European and Gulf countries, Tunisians in the diaspora and ordinary citizens are pouring in to help Covid-hit Tunisia avoid a health catastrophe, according to health professionals.
The Maghreb country, which struggled to find the necessary vaccines before the epidemic took off in July, has now received 3.2 million doses, largely donated, and is expected to exceed 5 million by mid-August, according to the health ministry.
Some 500,000 doses have come from China, the same number from the United Arab Emirates, and 250,000 doses have arrived from neighbouring Algeria.
France alone has donated more than a million doses from Astra Zeneca and Janssen this week, enough to vaccinate 800,000 people, or a tenth of the adult population of a country with 12 million inhabitants, said Secretary of State Jean Baptiste Lemoyne.
Tunisian internet users are sharing videos of panicked families unable to find a bed for their loved ones, of caregivers fearing oxygen shortages, and of bodies piled up in overflowing morgues.
Public hospitals, which already struggle in normal times due to poor management and a lack of resources, appealed again for help at the beginning of the summer to obtain protective equipment and instruments for resuscitation.
In the hospital in Kairouan, which was one of the first hospitals to be overwhelmed by the influx of patients at the end of June, donations of oxygen concentrators have reduced the number of serious cases and deaths, said Dr Chedly.
Tennis champion Ons Jabeur sold two rackets to finance a resuscitation unit.
Tunisia, which had only 90 resuscitation beds in the public sector before the pandemic, now has 500, partly thanks to donations.
Tunisian customs have allowed Tunisians coming from abroad to bring back one oxygen concentrator per traveller without paying any tax.
But the installation of more sophisticated equipment suffers from a lack of coordination or obstacles from the administration.
A field hospital provided by the United States in May was installed in July, while another donated by Qatar is still not operational due to a lack of oxygen source.
Of the three oxygen generators delivered by France at the beginning of June, worth one million euros, each of which can supply 300 beds continuously, only one is fully functional.
