Respiratory syndromes cause removal of health professionals in SP

The cases of respiratory syndromes, which included those of Covid-19 and the flu, have already resulted in the removal of at least 3,339 health professionals in the state of São Paulo. The amount, which is part of the consolidated calculation with data available this Thursday (6), may be even greater, since the number refers to employees only in the public network.

According to the Secretary of State for Health, 1,754 people are removed from their duties due to confirmation of Covid-19 and suspicion of other respiratory syndromes. The state currently has more than 172,000 professionals working in hospitals, clinics and specialized units.

At Hospital das Clínicas alone, in the west side of the capital of São Paulo, 56 employees were away with a diagnosis of Covid-19 and another 15 with suspicion, awaiting test results.

“Following the care and safety protocol of the teams, any professional suspected of having the disease is temporarily, preventively and promptly removed, for the recovery of their health and prevention of others”, the secretary said in a note.

In the capital of São Paulo, the Municipal Health Department said that, until last Thursday, 1,585 professionals were on leave due to Covid-19 or flu syndrome. The administration has 94,526 permanent employees or employees hired by OSS (Social Health Organizations).

According to Ricardo Nunes (MDB) management, the growth in the number of employees on leave was noticed on December 1, with no significant impact on assistance.

SPDM (Paulista Association for the Development of Medicine), one of the main OSS operating in the capital, reported that it has 800 employees isolated after being diagnosed with flu or coronavirus.

If the state and the city hall are still not talking about new hires to fill a possible shortage with the casualties, the third sector institution explained that it is attentive to the epidemiological situation and promoting emergency hiring, to ensure that the population does not fail to be served in the health services. health.

Another affected municipality is Campinas, in the interior of São Paulo, which last week recorded queues of patients looking for medical care with flu-like symptoms. Until the last update, 129 employees who work in the Municipal Health Department and in the Mário Gatti Network were away due to respiratory symptoms. In total, the city has 6,075 employees in the area.

With the departures, the class councils move to better understand what their affiliates who work on the front line are going through. Coren (Regional Council of Nursing) prepares a report that aims to detail the situations encountered by nurses in the last month.

“With the increase in the demand for care, the category is subject to situations that can affect the quality of care, such as longer time for care, and overload for nursing and health professionals”, he said to the leaf the president of Coren-SP, James Francisco dos Santos.

On how to try to remedy the situation, Santos said that it is necessary for health institutions to be attentive to the adequate sizing of professionals, respecting all regulations that value the safety of the patient and also of the workers.

In an attempt to contain an even more drastic reduction in the number of professionals, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, said that the portfolio can reduce isolation for asymptomatic people with Covid from 10 to 5 days, which is a request from entrepreneurs in the field. , in an attempt to circumvent possible inconveniences with the prolonged absence of doctors, nurses or technicians. When talking about this possibility, the minister mentioned that the CDC (United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) has already given this recommendation.

The report sought advice from the main private medical centers in São Paulo, but did not receive the number of collaborators with a medical certificate. In a note, the Sírio-Libanês reported that it was calling the doctors from the rear and who are already part of the institution’s clinical staff to support during this period of high demand for patients.

“The hospital is internally relocating the assistance and administrative teams to support this increase in demand. The emergency care team has already opened new rooms and increased its number of employees to accelerate the care of flu syndromes”, says an excerpt from the note.