Hospital ER that serves 670,000 people in the south of SP closes to the general public

The sudden closure this Thursday (22) of the emergency room of the Municipal Hospital of Campo Limpo, in the south of São Paulo, for the care of the general population surprised patients and members of the institution’s health management council.

Now, only those who arrive in ambulances are treated at the public hospital — a chain has been placed at the entrance, which is lowered by a security guard when the rescue vehicle approaches. The other patients are referred to the UPA (Emergency Care Unit) next door.

The Municipal Health Department says that changes occur because of reforms that began to be made in the emergency last Tuesday (20).

“Improvement works will be carried out to provide more comfort in care and reception. All patients who were in the PS were relocated to other sectors within the unit itself”, says the folder, in a note.

Counselor Anderson Dimas Pereira Lopes says that the hospital’s management board was only informed about the change a few hours before it happened, at a meeting at 3 pm on Wednesday (21), convened two days earlier by email.

The health ministry confirms the meeting and says that it discussed the reforms and presented a work schedule. “All members of the council were invited to participate in the meeting”, states an excerpt from a note from the secretariat.

Lopes complains that the management board did not have the opportunity to comment on the change. “This authoritarian, unilateral measure is disrespectful, because the council is deliberative”, he says.

The Campo Limpo Hospital serves around 670,000 people in the southern area and is a reference for cases of trauma caused, among others, by traffic, domestic and work accidents.

“Until last Wednesday, the emergency always attended whoever arrived there”, says Lopes. “All you had to do was get in the car and a nurse would come to do the pre-treatment and the patient was already placed on a stretcher or wheelchair.”

According to Lopes, on Thursday, the first day of the move, the waiting time for care at the UPA, of which he is also a member of the management council, went from three to up to six hours.

Although the counselor said that until Wednesday anyone was treated in the emergency, the management Ricardo Nunes (MDB) says that the hospital is a reference unit for the reception of patients referred by Crue (Central for Urgency and Emergency Regulation), by the UPAs, by the SAMU (Mobile Emergency Care Service), by the Fire Department and the Military Police (PM).

The UPA Campo Limpo is the gateway to spontaneous demands, according to the secretary. “In the UPA, the initial reception is carried out and, if necessary, the transfer to the referral hospital takes place. Everyone who seeks the unit is attended”, says the folder.

Counselor Anderson Lopes says that because of regulation, a patient can be transferred to another public hospital, and not to the emergency room on the same sidewalk.

Regarding the works, which did not have a budget revealed and will be carried out with hospital resources, the city government says that they will take place in a staggered way so that there is no interruption in service. The renovation is expected to be completed in the first half of 2023.

The city did not say whether it will keep the chain on the hospital door when the renovations are completed.

The management council promises to hold protests outside the hospital from October 3, after the first round of elections.

Protests outside the hospital are nothing new. In January of last year, there was a demonstration organized by Sindsep-SP (Sindicato dos Servos Municipales de São Paulo) because of staff cuts at the site. The layoffs arrived, including the emergency room.

Resonance

And another problem pointed out at the Campo Limpo Municipal Hospital is that the MRI machine, which serves about 1.3 million people in the south zone, has been broken for more than ten days – there were two breaks in a month, according to the management council. .

The secretary says that an assessment is being made whether the machine will be repaired or whether it will need to be replaced by new equipment. “Momentarily, MRI exams have been carried out in Josanias Castanha Braga municipal hospitals [Parelheiros]Gilson de Cássia Marques de Carvalho [Santa Catarina] and Professor Alípio Corrêa Netto, in addition to state units”, says the folder.