About twenty people wait for their relatives outside the outpatient area of the Abel Gilbert Pontón hospital, better known as Guayaquil, in the suburb. Among them is Karina, a Guayaquil native who accompanied her grandmother, an 88-year-old cirrhotic patient, to her follow-up appointment; for which, despite being free, they still need to bring at least $25 to buy the treatment medications, since in recent months they have not been given in full at that hospital.
The woman, who lives in the suburbs, said that the products they spend money on include everything from medicines such as spironolactone, propanadol and lactulose, to supplies for check-ups.
“Sometimes there is nothing. The previous time I brought her for an emergency: she was filled with fluids, and there was neither the catheter nor the tape to remove the fluid; we had to buy all the supplies here outside the hospital. Regarding the recipes, we always buy half of them and then we complete the list,” the woman commented.
Karina’s case is repeated in some more citizens in the centers and hospitals of the Ministry of Health (MSP) and the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS). This situation of shortage of some medicines and supplies, denounced by groups of patients on repeated occasions, aims to be solved with the pharmacy outsourcing plan of the comprehensive public health network.
On March 23, through Executive Decree 378, the Government made official the plan for electronic prescriptions and pharmacy outsourcing, which is made up of the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), the Ecuadorian Institute of Social Security (IESS), the Institute of Social Security of the Armed Forces (Issfa) and the Institute of Social Security of the Police (Isspol).
Outside the Guayaquil hospital, other mothers of patients also went to buy various supplies. Susana, a resident of Mount Sinai, commented that her 16-year-old son arrived with fever and pain, because she has spina bifida.
“There is no urine test cup here at the hospital. So, I went out to buy it at the pharmacy; it cost me 25 cents,” said the woman, who sells food on the streets to survive.
She said that in previous days she got sick and went to the Monte Sinai hospital, in her area, and they told her that she should go to a subcenter. “Let’s be realistic, in those subcenters time is wasted. Already with this type of illness they should attend directly. A few days later, he got sick and I brought him directly here, to the suburb, ”she said.
Likewise, outside the Francisco de Icaza Bustamante hospital, there is also evidence of a shortage of supplies and certain medicine for the treatment of various pathologies.
Mariana, who was outside that sanatorium, explained that a few days ago she brought her 3-year-old son to the emergency room, after a pot of boiling water fell on him after a domestic accident.
“The attention was immediate; The doctors and nurses are very friendly. But I did have to buy from the razors, so that they shave her little head, [hasta] a cream called silver sulfadiazine; I also bought jars of milk for him to eat. I have not seen him, because he is in an isolated area to avoid infections, but they tell me that he is already much better. Yes, I have spent about $100 on medicine and supplies, but he is better now. I’m going to see him today,” said the woman.
The problem of supplies and medicines is also reflected in the IESS health centers.
Éricka, a resident of the south of the city, mentioned that she took her 88-year-old father to the Sur Valdivia Specialty Center, on 25 de Julio Avenue, where he was diagnosed with tonsillitis.
“My daddy went with a fever, a sore throat; he was dizzy, his head hurt a lot. My daddy was flying with a fever, and he had to wait 20 shifts; They didn’t take pity on the fact that my father is an elderly person, nothing. There they reviewed it half half. And then they gave us a piece of paper so that we could go buy paracetamol and a serum to put outside,” she recalled. (I)