- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
Health unions in Colombia ask not to be discriminated against 2:20
(CNN Spanish) - The Colombian Ombudsman created a channel for complaints so that health personnel can confidentially report the threats and harassment to which they are subjected.
The measure follows the case of a doctor who claims to have received death threats against him and his family.
"Doctor, if he does not leave, we kill his wife and children," was the threat the doctor encountered when he returned from a working day to his apartment in the north of Bogotá, the capital of the country.
The doctor, who has been practicing his profession for 18 years, assured Caracol Televisión: “We were completely shocked, very sad. You try every day to do a good job, and sometimes you feel you should be better rewarded. There is no right, the values of the company are invested ”.
He believes that the bullying would be related to his profession and the clinic where he works, and thinks that it would come from neighbors who assume that he could be a carrier of the coronavirus.
In a subsequent call with CNN, the pediatrician confirmed the version he gave to Caracol Televisión and stated that he is not a carrier of covid-19 and that he does not work directly with patients infected with coronavirus either.
The sister-in-law of the complaining doctor also spoke to CNN and told us that the residential complex in which the threats were received is closed, so only the neighbors would know that he is a doctor. He adds that his brother-in-law used to come home with the uniform to the house, but that he has stopped doing it out of fear.
- LEE: Colombia on alert for cases of covid-19 in prisons, clinics and food shops
The doctor made public the complaint of threat to his life, a management that was confirmed by his wife in a call that CNN made to him this Thursday.
The sister-in-law, also a doctor, affirms that fear overwhelms them. He believes that whoever wrote the message can live very close to them. He fears for his integrity and that of at least other health professionals who also reside in the building.
Police, who have already received the complaint, say they are making progress in the investigations to identify the person responsible.
CNN contacted the administrator and legal representative of the residential complex, who confirmed what happened. “This is new to us, it is terrible. We are rejecting this type of attitude, we have never experienced it before. On the contrary, we are providing full support to medical personnel and everyone, regardless of their profession. ”
The person in charge added that the residential complex gave the videos of the security cameras to the police and that all the necessary accompaniment is being provided to the affected family. “The police are providing 24-hour surveillance services in the building. Surveillance videos were also provided, everything has been done to do graphological tests to identify who wrote the message. There is no camera on each floor. They are 17 floors, 6 towers. It would have to have 500 cameras. That is not feasible, but the accesses to each tower have a camera ”.
At the moment, a uniformed police officer remains at the door of the doctor's house.
Several health professionals have sent their messages of support through social networks and have spoken in rejection of these events. "I didn't think anyone had the ability to write this type of message. To work in Colombia, to study and get a specialization is complicated, one struggles financially, professionally and professionally, having to leave 4:00 or 5:00 in the morning and finish at 8:00 at night, I don't understand ... I'm dismayed, ”Dr. Leonel Leal, who recorded a video that quickly went viral in support of the pediatrician's family in Bogotá, told CNN.
Other cases in Latin America
The moving images of entire cities applauding in unison the work of health personnel at the forefront of the hard battle against the coronavirus these days fill the homes of the families of doctors and nurses on the planet with hope.
In countries such as Italy and Spain, they have been considered "heroes in white coats" as they are the only ones who go out to work, in a world paralyzed by mandatory preventive isolation measures.
In Latin America there is also support, but the ovation is overshadowed by alarming reports of discrimination or harassment.
In Argentina, the story of a doctor whose neighbors warned him to find another place to live, shook social networks. In Chile, some health workers denounced how citizens sprayed chlorine on their faces.
In the face of the increase in attacks against medical personnel in the world, Doctors Without Borders has created a campaign on social networks with the hashtag # FuerzaEquipoMédico, to support and ask for protection for the personnel working to face the pandemic.
Threatscovid-19 Ombudsman medical staff
