Covid-19 absences of health professionals quadruple in SP

With the new high in Covid cases, public and private hospitals, in addition to health units, have again recorded an increase in the number of sick professionals, similar to what happened in other waves of the pandemic.

At the Municipal Health Department, the number of licenses for Covid in the period of a month more than quadrupled: from 87, on May 5, to 354, this Tuesday (7). There are another 462 sick leave due to flu syndromes, against 289 at the beginning of May.

According to Vanessa Araújo, a primary care physician in the municipality of São Paulo, in addition to the removal of colleagues, the teams observe a large increase in respiratory symptomatic patients with confirmation of Covid, which in some health units exceeds 50%, increasing the burden of professionals.

“We still don’t have the placement of extra doctors in these units and the situation is repeated. The fear is that we will suffer what we suffered at the beginning of the year, in January”, says she, who is also a representative of Simesp for the primary care agenda.

In the state network, 4,168 professionals are on leave, an increase of 5.6% compared to the beginning of May (3,948), according to the State Department of Health. They represent 2.4% of the total of 172 thousand health workers.

At the Hospital do Servidor Público Estadual (HSPE), for example, 46 professionals are on leave due to Covid, including doctors, nursing staff, physiotherapists, among others. The number represents 1% of the institution’s total of 4,230 employees.

According to intensive care specialist Ederlon Rezende, head of the HSPE’s ICU, absences generate a series of setbacks in the work routine, such as the need to reorganize schedules. “In addition to the work overload for those who stay and the moral impact on the team due to the concern for the health of colleagues and family.”

In a note, the institution said that absences last an average of seven days, that they are not causing harm to patient care and that outpatient consultations, exams and surgeries have not changed.

Private hospitals also see an increase in employees away from Covid, but to a lesser extent compared to previous waves. At Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz, there are 65 professionals on leave due to Covid. At the beginning of May, there were 3.

Although the number is much lower than that observed at the peak of the ômicron variant, in January, when the hospital recorded 170 sick leave, the jump is worrying, according to José Marcelo de Oliveira, Oswaldo Cruz’s CEO.

“This amount is three times more than we recorded in the second wave, last year, when we reached 22 departures. That’s a lot,” he says. No case required hospitalization.

As in other institutions, with the removals there was a need for relocation, but so far there is no operational impact, according to Oliveira. We haven’t had the need for additional hiring yet. We are managing to drive with the team we have here. But it has a yellow alert.”

At Hospital Israelita Albert Einstein, 114 are removed by Covid, of which 15 are doctors.

According to Miguel Cendoroglo, Einstein’s superintendent director, the current number of absences represents 1% of the total number of employees.

“Today, the cases are less serious, they do not need an ICU. Leaves were a very serious problem a year ago, in the second wave, we had 3%, 4% of the total number of patients on leave. In January, at the peak of the Ômicron , also worried, but now it’s not impacting as much,” he says.