Cesar’s Ministry of Health announced the opening of an investigation into an apparent case of negligence by the medical care staff of the Rosario Pumarejo de López Hospital in Valledupar.
Apparently, they denied the care of an older adult referred from the ESE Hospital Isaac Rincón Torres de La Jagua de Ibirico (Cesar center), who had respiratory failure and needed ventilatory support.
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“As a Cesarean and a doctor, I feel deep sadness when I know that ESE staff Rosario Pumarejo is denying attention to critically ill patients, vital emergencies that are referred from other municipalities, arguing that they are unavailable,” the secretary of Health of Cesar, Hernán Baquero Rodríguez.
The event occurred last Saturday and, as reported by the official, the 62-year-old patient was subjected to a tour by several IPS to place him in an ICU, violating all his rights.
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“They exposed their life unnecessarily. This action is not an act of protest, it is a reckless and criminal attitude, not in front of some institutions, but in front of the people,” said Baquero.
Similarly, he stated that the same fate was suffered by another patient who was transferred to the Valledupar Neighborhood Development Center (CDV).
“We have made an effort to strengthen ESE, to make it a benchmark for the pandemic, because we trust in how prepared and human its staff is and because this is a way of generating an economic dynamic that strengthens it,” said the secretary.
In addition, Baquero explained that denying the service to critically ill patients puts the Rosario Pumarejo de López Hospital at greater risk, because: “we could lose the possibility of entering into contracts with the EPS, an approach that we have achieved with the management of the Cesar government.”
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Currently, the panorama presented by the Rosario Pumarejo de López Hospital is critical. For several weeks, doctors, nurses, assistants, and in general hospital staff, have been partially halting their activities due to the delay in their wages amid the coronavirus pandemic.
This Monday, hospital workers, linked through the different union associations, started a hunger strike, as a result of non-payment of up to 11 months of wages and the non-response by the competent authorities to try to solve their requests.
“We have no intention of stopping until the National Government, the health authorities of Cesar and the hospital solve the problem for us. If I have to lose my life here, because they do not solve this problem, I will lose it, “said the OB / GYN doctor, Julio Julio Peralta, spokesman for the workers of this hospital.
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Workers hold a demonstration in the face of the situation.
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Coordination between the covid ICU and the covid emergency personnel was lacking. The medical coordinator should have stated it before
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Regarding this complaint, the OB-GYN doctor and the leader of the workers of this hospital clarified that: “the older adult arrived by ambulance. The doctor on duty approached him and saw that he was a patient who was intubated. He thought that there were no conditions to download him because he was suspected of covid and decided to redirect him to the Arena Clinic and the Santo Tomás Clinic, because he had a company card, “said Peralta.
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In this same context, he emphasized that the officials on duty, apparently, were unaware that the hospital’s ICU covid beds were enabled. “There was a lack of coordination between the covid ICU and the covid emergency personnel. The medical coordinator had to express this in advance,” he added.
Similarly, Peralta stressed that they will analyze the situation, since the Emergency and Emergency Regulatory Center (Crue), which is the agency in charge of directing all patients, was not informed.
For his part, the Medical Ethics Court of Cesar and La Guajira received the complaint and warned that they will initiate a disciplinary investigation about this complaint.
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“Officially we do not have a formal complaint. We learned about the case from the complaint made by the Secretary of Health through social networks. When we receive the complaint, we will inquire who were the doctors who were on duty that day, we will make some discharges. Five magistrates will make an analysis and determine if there is an opening for an investigation, if there was any lack of the code of medical ethics, “said Joaquín Maestre Vega, president of the Medical Ethics Tribunal.
EL TIEMPO tried to contact the hospital manager, Jaqueline Henríquez, to find out her position on the matter, but received no response.
Ludys Ovalle Jácome
Special for Time
Valledupar
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