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2024-03-30 02:53:00
“I brought my wife because she doesn’t feel well,” said Oscar, a neighbor who was waiting in the treatment room of the Ferreyra neighborhood dispensary, in the capital of Córdoba, where his wife received medical attention for dengue. The 70-year-old woman was stabilized at the scene and then taken to Rawson Hospital with signs of dehydration.
The doctors who work at the municipal health center No. 12, from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., told The voice Although cases like hers are few, most of the patients seen in the spontaneous demand clinics, around 120 per day between the two shifts, arrive with mild symptoms.
One of those patients is Cintia, who said that she received “good and fast care.” The doctors gave him paracetamol and a repellent, which is also in short supply. That’s why doctors choose to give them to people who have fewer resources.
Healthcare workers are making great efforts to resist exhaustion due to high demand. Although there are no long waiting lines, the care shifts do not stop and professionals also carry out checks on those who are already diagnosed.
“We are seeing more patients than during the time of the coronavirus,” said a doctor at the dispensary.
Pediatrics also receives many children with dengue symptoms and, therefore, the whole family is infected with the virus. And there are even people who were infected up to two times in a few weeks, although these cases are the least.
The health center not only serves patients from the neighborhood located southeast of the city, but also from the surrounding areas, such as Ampliación Ferreyra and the settlements Los 40 guasos and El Trencito, among others.
“We are saturated. In the followingnoon, I treat regarding 50 patients, of which 30 have dengue. I’m alone, with the nurse, and in the morning there is a clinical doctor and the pediatrician. We absorb patients from Pami and private guards,” said the doctor.
In addition, he said that, in recent days, during closing hours, they received people who were referred from the Florencio Díaz provincial hospital. And he estimated that by Easter there will be an explosion of cases.
They can’t cope
At the municipal health center No. 42, in the Comercial neighborhood, located in the southern area of the capital of Córdoba, the border of medical care is divided between the line of nursing mothers, who until Wednesday went to look for the boxes of milk , and those who wait to enter the offices with doctors who cannot cope.
The clinic’s five specialists are saturated by the number of dengue cases they have to attend to: around 20 per day each from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. The clinics for feverish cases are open on Thursdays and Fridays.
“I have a headache and a fever for two days. “I’m waiting for the doctor to see me,” said Lucía, a young woman with visible symptoms of dengue who leans once morest the wall from time to time. She is accompanied by a larger woman who places her hand on her forehead.
In the room you can no longer see the long lines like at the beginning of March, when dengue began with its explosion of cases. Even weeks ago, one of the doctors also had dengue.
After the protocol of the Ministry of Health of the Province for differentiated care between mild and serious symptoms, to reduce the hours of delays, the dispensary began with shifts in spontaneous demand clinics.
Although “cases have not decreased and we have many patients for control. People come anyway because they feel bad and want the doctor to see them,” said Marcela Herrera, in charge of the dispensary. So far, there have been only three serious cases and most are mild.
The health center also serves residents of the Mirizzi, Santa Rosa, Alejandro Carbó, Nuestro Hogar III neighborhoods, among others. Herrera said that, despite the organization to decompress the hospitals, the work remains difficult because, in most dispensaries, there are few doctors to attend to the high demand of patients.
In addition, the doctor announced that on April 19, at the neighborhood center next to the dispensary, the medical certificates will be delivered to 100 children who are suspended at the health center for giving priority to dengue cases.
Villa La Tela and IPV Argüello
“I have already lived for many years, the claim is for the children.” The phrase full of resignation belongs to Rosa, a neighbor of the Villa La Tela neighborhood with a chronic illness and who fears that something will happen to her seven-month-old grandson.
The scenario is worrying. Dengue fever advanced harshly on homes, but health actions were not enough to slow it down. The neighborhood leaders called on the neighbors, and regarding thirty approached the Community Integration Center (CIC) for a meeting with the dispensary’s health personnel due to the advance of the disease.
In La Tela a chain of misfortunes occurred that overwhelmed attention. They have not had internet for 15 days due to alleged cable theft, so medical prescriptions must be made by hand. Although they made the corresponding complaint, the problem was not solved. This difficulty slows down care and, above all, does not allow for a reliable record of cases and, therefore, specific prevention policies.
The Municipality of Córdoba reported that health centers extended their opening hours until the followingnoon, but that does not happen in this sector of the city.
The dispensary has only three doctors and two nurses to care for the entire population. However, one of the professionals is regarding to retire; and another is a monotributist and they have delayed payment for more than 45 days.
“We do what we can with what we have,” insisted one of the nurses. And she added: “They send us very few repellents and boxes of paracetamol, and we give them to the most vulnerable of the vulnerable.” The reinforcements arrive in dribs and drabs.
From the dispensary they also asked the neighbors to insist on self-care measures, such as removing junk and cleaning their homes.
In the IPV Argüello neighborhood, a hexagonal waiting room is synonymous with lost and tired faces. Women with children, elderly people and some men stand in an improvised line to be served. At the door, a young man without identification is the filter. He is also joined by a nurse.
A woman approaches and asks if they can give her some medication to calm her fever. The answer is negative. Another comes with the laboratory results and they talk regarding the percentage of platelets. She didn’t go in either. What determines that some do and others don’t?
Inside, Noemí is with her 11-year-old daughter lying on her lap. “We don’t have money, it’s the end of the month and I receive a very low pension.”
“We are afraid to go out on the street”
In El Trencito and Los 40 guasos, neighborhoods in the southeast of the city of Córdoba, dengue is scary. Most families contracted the virus. Now, they are afraid to leave their homes for fear of contracting the disease once more.
“There are five of us and we all contracted dengue. We were treated at the Ferreyra dispensary. I was there for 12 days and I contracted it once more,” said Miguel Carnero, a local resident, while he feeds his horses and does his best to chase away the mosquitoes.
Inside the house, it is protected with spirals and repellents, but the problem is the street. “We don’t want to go out for fear of being bitten once more,” she said.
The proximity to the fields, which are now full of grasslands, the Master Canal, the rainwater that accumulates in the streets and in the patios of precarious homes are a combo for the proliferation of mosquitoes.
In addition, many families do not have the financial resources to travel to health centers, buy prevention products or pay for medication.
“We don’t have to pay for a bus. At home there are four of us, and all four of us are infected. I mightn’t send my son to school. We take care of ourselves, but when we go out, we can get infected. Here they cover you with weeds,” said Miriam Núñez, a resident of El Trencito.
Although fumigation was carried out, the residents explained that this is not enough because the effect wears off quickly. Herman Oviedo, a resident of Los 40 guasos, said that the fumigator truck passed by only once and a month ago: “It had problems with the cables, which are low, and it did not return.”
Meanwhile, auxiliary nurse Verónica Camargo, a leader in the area, said that she contracted the disease twice. “The situation is critical due to the lack of preventive and control measures by the authorities,” she indicated.
In addition, he reported that there are more than 700 families and that being in the red zone, public transportation does not enter the neighborhoods. They also cannot provide an address because they do not have a cadastral map, something that complicates a transfer, especially in an emergency case.
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