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Coronavirus in the suburbs: Austral was close to saturation and closed a private clinic in Escobar

2020-08-08T15:07:21.133Z


The Pilar university hospital reached 95% of its hospitalization capacity. And the Plaza sanatorium filed for bankruptcy, although they explain that its 48 beds were not essential.


Tiffany del mastro

08/08/2020 - 9:34

  • Clarín.com
  • Zonal

In full advance of the coronavirus pandemic, while the demand for the number of infections grows, throughout Greater Buenos Aires and the Federal Capital the health system is on alert.

The health emergency is leading to saturation in many care centers of the private system, where they fear that the collapses will continue if the number of Covid-19 patients continues to grow. The crisis impacted two well-known clinics in the northern suburbs.

The Austral de Pilar Hospital passed its maximum peak of 95% occupancy ten days ago . It is a key building during the pandemic, since in addition to having prepaid patients, its Hospital Solidario  receives referrals from other districts and provinces and reinforces the service of the Sanguinetti and Derqui hospitals .

In response, now, while the  occupation rises to 84% in intensive care and 76% in intermediate , they are in the process of expanding and working on the training of professionals in other areas.

On the other hand, in the Escobar district, the Sanatorio Plaza , a private clinic that cares for PAMI members, the population most vulnerable to the virus, closed .

Thus, the local health system was left this week with 40 fewer beds for hospitalization and 8 for intensive care, although the district government secretary, Javier Rehl, pointed out that "it was not essential because they were only suitable for mild cases."

Hospital Solidario Austral, the exclusive one for patients with COVID-19, has xx% of the 60 beds covered.

Another extension of the Austral

Two days ago the Austral Hospital had its maximum peak with 95% of beds covered . And now, with 84% occupation in intensive care and 78% in intermediate , they are considering alternatives to "be as prepared as possible."

This is how  Manuel Rocca Rivarola, pediatrician and associate director of the hospital, explains to Clarín : "There are different strategies that could be activated according to the needs. We have not yet had to activate contingency plans, but we are prepared to increase therapy beds by 35%. intermediate and 25% for intensive care if required in the next few days. "

It would be equivalent to the incorporation of 10 and 9 hospitalization units in each area , respectively: intermediate therapy would have twice the number of beds (32) ; and there would be 45 for critical cases.

Austral Hospital. Ten days ago they reached 95% occupancy. Now, they plan to add beds and are training staff.

However, beyond the infrastructure modifications, Rocca Rivarola considers that " what is important is the human capital" that will attend to those patients.

"We are working on the training of healthcare personnel not affected by the Covid-19 issue  (such as maternal and child personnel or outpatient clinical specialties) so that they can eventually perform associated tasks and treat patients, " he said.

All the actions that they project within the Austral Hospital (from incorporating new care spaces to conditioning the rooms) - he emphasized - are taking into consideration that "the care of patients who are not Covid and require equal attention must be protected."

Closed a PAMI clinic in Escobar

The Plaza de Belén de Escobar Sanatorium , which closed its doors on July 31, is in the wake of a conflict that puts almost 50 beds at risk for coronavirus care in the region.

Located at Edilfredo Ameghino 650, it had suffered a drop in income when, at the beginning of the month,  PAMI withdrew its portfolio of 7,000 members to transfer them to other health centers –such as the Néstor Kirchner Municipal Hospital of Maquinista Savio–. For this reason, the management company Ferwal SA (in charge since 2017) filed for bankruptcy.

The Sanatorio Plaza de Escobar, which cared for PAMI members, closed and the local health system was left without 48 hospital beds.

"The clinic had  difficulties for 7 years. PAMI noticed the  poor management , with a disastrous service and an abandoned infrastructure ," Javier Rehl, Secretary of Government of the Commune , explained to Clarín .

As he explained, employees were paid in installments and out of time : there are employees who claim four to six months of salary; and in some cases, up to six bonuses.

Despite the speculations that the neighbors shared on social networks, Javier Rehl affirmed that in the Municipality " intervention was never evaluated" .

"The workers expected a solution as we did with the former San Carlos clinic –statized in May–, but that  situation was different : it had an owner in charge and it operated with levels of complexity. The Plaza building was rented and critical patients were referred to the La Torre clinic (which the company manages in Vicente López), "he confirmed.

For the local health system, he explained, the fact that the sanatorium stops working is  not a problem for the district , which already has 300 inpatient beds - of which 100 are for intensive care.

"Although the Plaza had 40 inpatient beds and 8 therapy beds,  it could not have provided a good service. They did not even have respirators. Yes, it might have been useful for mild cases," he said.

On the closing day,  65 workers  (some of whom have already been relocated to other jobs) "peacefully resisted" at the institute to demand the reopening and payment of the wages owed.

"With the mayor (Ariel Sujarchuk) we received yesterday 24 maintenance and administration employees who were the most affected. The idea is to accompany them in the management with the union and the Ministry of Labor," said Rehl. 

As confirmed by the official, some nurses could be taken to work in municipal health centers . Meanwhile, the rest await a management resolution, who would be considering an agreement with IOMA (social work of the Province of Buenos Aires) or the sale of the company to a business group to resume activities.

Source: clarin

All news articles on 2020-08-08

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