2023-12-15 16:05:48
A new sit-in took place outside the General Hospital of Medellín (HGM) as part of a protest by several employees to whom they owe payments and who are already tired of what they describe as poor management of the institution that has it mired in a serious crisis.
From the early hours of this Friday, December 15, several workers took out banners and demanded, through harangues, guarantees to carry out their work, not only with the salary payments they owe them, but also with supplies, equipment maintenance and other aspects that they require. to care for patients and which, they claim, the hospital is not guaranteeing.
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“We are all called to this rally by the same feeling of sadness, overwhelm and anxiety, caused by the current crisis that our beloved institution is going through, which in its 74 years of existence had never faced a similar situation, in which it is affected. its reputation as one of the best public hospitals in Latin America,” one of the protesters was heard saying outside the HGM.
The stories report the same thing, the specialists, including general surgeon contractors, are owed the salary for all of October and all of November, not to mention that they have problems providing their services because they have been left without supplies.
“We have found ourselves without chest tubes, pleural drainage devices and devices for temporary abdominal closure, having to resort to “artisanal” options that put patient safety at risk,” reads a letter they sent on December 13.
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Surgeons also indicated that surgeries have had to be canceled due to lack of supplies and that they have not even had the means to do laboratory tests.
Juan Camilo Toro, member of the Asohgm union, explained that there are many shortcomings that are being experienced and that they do not find solutions in the directives.
The union leader criticized that the priorities of this administration have been in spending million-dollar sums on works without which it might continue functioning, which has been to the detriment of other fronts that have been left to fall and are really important to provide services.
In fact, at this morning’s sit-in, they also said that with its decisions the administration “attacks the patient safety policy” because it does not provide the necessary supplies and does not guarantee the maintenance and repair of the equipment, which is why many patients They must be referred to other clinics and hospitals to be treated.
Also: “The hospital is dying”: Doctors and workers entered the Mayor’s Office to protest the crisis at the General Hospital
Other professionals hired through cooperatives, such as doctors, nurses, administrative and pharmacy workers, are owed all of November. Initially, manager Mario Fernando Córdoba had promised that the payment would arrive this December 11, but that was not the case. This medium learned of an audio from the manager in which payments will be made this Friday, December 15.
One of the biggest criticisms of the manager is that he only blames the crisis on the debts of the EPS with the hospital, as if these were not a problem of all administrations. They regret that their alleged mismanagement with resources and contracting has contributed greatly to the deficit of the institution, regarding which former mayor Daniel Quintero, acting mayor Óscar Hurtado and the Medellín Health Secretariat have maintained a silence that for many It is “accomplice”.
The stories from doctors and other professionals, such as nurses, orderlies or pharmacists, are regrettable. For example, one of them said that due to delays in payments they are finding it difficult to shop, pay rent, and travel to work. Their situation contrasts with that of linked professionals, who are a minority, who have better guarantees in this regard.
“There are people who have stopped going because they can’t afford tickets. And the worst thing is that the hospital’s higher-ups will retaliate if you stop going or complain. Those of us from cooperatives and unions (outsourced) cannot complain because they take us out. The only ones who have supported us are those linked to us,” said a doctor who asked not to be named for fear of losing his job.
The truth is that while employees complain because they do not have a way to care for patients well and their salary payments are delayed, HGM continues to make million-dollar investments (almost $94,000 million between 2020 and 2023 alone) in contracts for different modernization works. Remembering one of the phrases that a nurse said this week: “They paint the facade of the house, but they have an empty refrigerator.”
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