Nurse takes own life after contracting coronavirus at work

A young nurse who reported the shortage of medical equipment to fight the pandemic in Mexico has reportedly taken her own life after contracting the coronavirus at work.

Maria del Carmen Galeana was working with COVID-19 patients at the Raymundo Abarca Alarcon general hospital in the city of Chilpancingo, in the southwestern Mexican state of Guerrero, when she started showing symptoms of the virus.

She was sent into self-isolation by the hospital’s management along with four other nurses who were showing symptoms.

Ms Galeana took her own life a week later at home, according to official sources. No further information on the incident has been provided at the time of reporting.

The nurse, whose age has not been reported, had previously shared messages explaining the sacrifice health workers were making in Mexico and the exhaustion they were suffering.

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Ms Galeana had shared complaints from doctors about the lack of equipment in hospitals and had written on May 2 that Mexico was not taking the pandemic seriously enough.

“While the deaths are not your deaths, you will not understand the seriousness of what we are going through,” she wrote.

She added the pandemic was “not an invention from the government to keep us at home, to break the economy, to brainwash us with 5G”.

Ms Galeana later called for the Governor of Guerrero to set up a temporary shelter for health system workers who were dealing with coronavirus patients.

Local media report workers at the hospital where Ms Galeana was employed had reported a lack of personal protective equipment at the facility.

Guerrero is one of the 10-worst hit states in Mexico by COVID-19 and, according to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Mexico has registered 97,326 cases of the virus and 10,637 related deaths.

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There have been a few reports of frontline workers taking their own lives amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A 23-year-old paramedic in the UK died of a suspected suicide in April.

Before her death she wrote on social media saying the lockdown and working on the frontlines of the coronavirus crisis in the country was taking its toll on her

In Florida, a. 32-year-old nurse struggled to see patients his age die of COVID-19, his parents said.

William Coddington was committed to his recovery after suffering from substance abuse, however in May it was reported his family suspected he died of a frug overdose.

– Australscope

Feeling worried or struggling to cope during the coronavirus pandemic? Visit coronavirus.beyondblue.org.au or speak with trained counsellors on 1800 512 348.

Readers seeking support and information about suicide prevention can contact Beyond Blue on 1300 22 4636, Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Suicide Call Back Service on 1300 659 467.

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