The death of the aspiring doctor has also given way to the protest over the conditions of “abuse and outrage” to which the students of this career are subjected.
Medical students at the University of El Salvador, UES, are shocked by the death, by suicide, of Nathalie Vanessa Miranda Pérez, one of their classmates.
Nathalie Vanessa was a medical student and was doing a rotating internship in the area of Pediatrics.
Nathalie’s death was confirmed by Alma Mater, who also published it through a note giving her condolences.
More details about the young woman’s death are unknown; it is known that she published messages on her networks alluding to her suicide.
The death of the aspiring doctor has also given way to the protest over the conditions of “abuse and outrage” to which the students of this career are subjected.
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The protest took place at 11:30 in the morning in the Salvador Allende square, near the Faculty of Medicine of the UES.
The Association of Medical Students “Dr. Emilio Álvarez” (ASEMEA) of the UES joined the signs of solidarity through another obituary, the users of social networks took advantage of the space to call for the eradication of abuses, the same ones that damage the mental health of students .
For his part, the public health specialist, Ricardo Lara, considered that the formation of the “character and skills” of medical students may be affected by the covid-19 pandemic that El Salvador faced.
Lara appreciated that although students may be prepared academically, it is very likely that they still need training for life in hospitals.
“They attended the externship virtually, there was little face-to-face time, the Public Health Council and the universities had to consider this situation,” Lara said.
He argued that the most worrying thing, in the case of Nathalie, is that she had already posted messages on social networks about this eventual outcome, but nobody attended.
Law sought to regulate abuses by schedules
It is not the first time that mistreatment of medical students has been the cause of protests, in January 2019, the Legislative Assembly approved the Special Law for the Regulation of Clinical Practices of Rotating Internship Students, Social Year, Physicians and Dentists Residents in Specialization Process.
The approved law established that medical students in clinical practices in the rotating internship modality in authorized health establishments should have a maximum working day of 10 hours per day, 80 hours per week, including night shifts, holidays and weekends, which should be every five days. After night shifts, they will not be able to provide medical assistance to patients for a period of not less than 8 hours, except in emergency situations.
Students who pass the rotations to the rotating internship will obtain their graduation letter to opt for the social year, which will last one calendar year.
As for the doctors who carry out their residencies, the days of assistance services will be from 7 in the morning to 3 in the afternoon. The shifts will start at 3 in the afternoon and will leave at 7 in the morning of the next day, without exceeding 24 continuous hours.