Yad Sarah warned on Tuesday of an impending shortage of oxygen concentrators to lend to coronavirus patients being treated at home, Channel 12 News reported.

According to Yad Sarah, the number of coronavirus patients requesting oxygen assistance at home is increasing at an alarming rate, with about 50 new requests each day.

If the current pace continues, there will be no more machines left by Rosh Hashanah, which means that any patients who are in need of oxygen assistance will have to be evacuated to already overcrowded hospitals.

“At the current rate of 50 coronavirus patients turning to us every day, our stock will run out by Sunday,” said Yad Sarah director Moshe Cohen. ” Without an immediate emergency solution, we’ll be forced to refer all patients in need of oxygen equipment to the hospitals, an additional 400 patients per week.”

“Over the past year and a half, we’ve treated over 30,000 coronavirus patients, assisting them in avoiding unnecessary hospitalization. Thousands of volunteers work day and night and we even recruited the Navy Squadron to assist in filling the balloons, but we’ve reached a breaking point. By Rosh Hashanah, we’ll be forced to leave patients without life-saving oxygen.”

“We turned to the Health Ministry and requested their assistance to urgently fly in a sufficient supply of equipment that will enable the expansion of Yad Sarah’s home hospitalization system but we haven’t received a response. It’s the only way to prevent the impending danger to hospitals,” Cohen warned.

Currently, Yad Sarah is treating about 35% of mildly to moderately ill coronavirus patients in need of oxygen, the organization said.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)