Colombia's hospitals unprepared for coronavirus, personnel working under threat: federation

[Judi Lynn]

by Adriaan Alsema April 8, 2020

Colombia’s hospitals are grossly unprepared to deal with the coronavirus pandemic. Medical personnel who have wanted to expose this have been threatened or fired, according the country’s medical federation.

In an online press conference, the Colombian Medical Federation said that hospitals are not just unequipped to deal with the pandemic, but that medical personnel is working under conditions that threaten their health, and that of their families and patients, according to a poll among more than 900 doctors and nurses.

There is expression of anguish, anxiety, sadness, lack of desire to go to work and a feeling of abandonment by the state. There are layoffs, deterioration of contractual conditions, decreased income, greater instability, and a feeling of frustration due to the indifference of Colombian society to which the efforts of health personnel are dedicated, in conditions that put the health and life of this human talent at risk.

Colombian Medical Federation

In some cases, doctors and nurses were threatened with terrorism charges if they revealed the situation in the hospitals, according to FMC director Sergio Isaza.

More:
https://colombiareports.com/colombias-hospitals-unprepared-for-coronavirus-personnel-working-under-threat-federation/