Doctors fear for health system with early re-opening

The Association of Doctors and Specialists of  Santo Tomás Hospital have warned that the re-opening of business  activities may lead to the collapse of the public health system.

 In a letter to the government, they call for the urgent opening of the modular hospital  built to help fight the covid pandemic.

Until a few weeks, it  seemed that the  Ministry of Health (Minsa) was “doing things right”, despite the fact that no figures indicated that the pandemic was under control. But now the second re-opening phase and the suspension of the quarantine with no scientific reason for the decision is not explained.

They indicated that if there was a  decrease in new cases and in the transmissibility rate, the opening could proceed.

 However, they allege that these two conditions have not been presented and that a government opening plan clearly does not follow a scientific thread.

This,  they claim t could have very serious consequences in regards to the collapse of the health system.

Quarantine flouters
The doctors say that one of the possible reasons why we never managed to control the epidemic which only sat on an eternal plateau was the inability to maintain a strict quarantine due to having a high number of citizens who did not respect the restrictions, especially on weekends.

Meanwhile, another cause could be the state’s inability to provide those in need with the economic sustenance to be able to keep it quarantined.

They suggested that the active search for asymptomatic positives was never massive, due to situations such as the lack of human resources or insufficient laboratory tests.

Furthermore, the overcrowded conditions in which positive patients lived could contribute to the increase. “The isolation in hotels should have been used more frequently in these cases.”

They argue that they are aware that an indefinite quarantine cannot be maintained, but there should be a plan that allows control of damage caused by an early opening of the second stage.

Modular  hospital
“And it is here that the strongly questioned Modular Hospital, which was promised over eighty days ago and which cannot be used yet, becomes necessary.”

Health Minister Rosario Turner said that  there are parameters that cannot be skipped such as the evaluation of the Technical Health Council. Within the infrastructure, there were some adjustments that had to be made, which they managed to finalize with the Ministry of Public Works and finish.

Some equipment for the laboratories is about to be delivered and they hope that the opening of this hospital can be carried out in the shortest possible time.