On June 3 of this year, a head nurse and a Pediatric specialist in charge of that area at the General Hospital of Medellín expressed their dismay at the food that is arriving in the rooms of children hospitalized in that institution.
From a compote in which a plastic splinter was found and serious errors in the delivery of food to children with diabetes or kidney problems who require dialysis, they were part of a series of complaints that have rained down on the internal audit office of that entity and that surfaced last week.
Although the alerts about the provision of this service had been given since the end of 2020, when the hospital began preparing the ground for the delivery of a contract for more than $12,466 million, it was in an internal audit report that was leaked to public opinion. last week that the crisis was uncovered, in the voice of the same medical staff.
“The head nurse of the service together with the pediatric doctor report non-compliance with schedules, cold meals, little variety, inadequate presentation. Sometimes they do not bring breakfast in a thermos car, they presented compote with plastic chips, a low-protein breakfast, with a lot of carbohydrates”, was recorded in the document.
“On May 6 they left 9 children without food, they do not answer and do not answer the phone, they change the operating staff a lot, they give a child with a special diet a normal diet, many difficulties with diabetic patients and they do not bring breakfast to children on dialysis. timely. Adequate consistency is not observed, children under one year of age are given a soft adult diet, hard meat,” the report denounces.
Read in depth, the research shows that the problems do not only overwhelm the pediatric area. In a complaint registered on March 18, in the Intensive Care Unit, those in charge of that service denounced that several critical patients received contraindicated food in their medical observations and others, even, did not receive any food.
“I would like to inform you of a situation that frequently occurs in the Intensive Care Unit (…) regarding the indication of the type of diet of some patients. Both yesterday and today, patients who have non-dairy indications, the food service brings dairy foods as the only protein available (cheese, oatmeal in milk and milk chocolate)”, denounced a head of that unit.
“On multiple occasions they have also omitted the delivery of diets for some patients (…) The food service was called, but we had to go directly down for the diets since, despite being requested, the food service does not bring them” added the doctor.
In the Special Care Unit there are also several reports asking for explanations for failures in the distribution of food, ranging from the delivery of sweets to patients with a restricted diet, to rations that never reach the patients who need them.
“Today all the hypoglycemic diets were supplied with conventional sweets, in such a way that the list is reviewed and it does not coincide with the diet they bring. Repetitive and very dangerous case”, denounced a nurse.
In dozens of reports, coming from areas such as emergencies, various nursing positions, the obstetrics and gynecology service, oncology and even the pediatric ICU, objections are reiterated about the poor quality of the food and the lack of responses from the contractor.
Among the most recurrent claims are hygiene problems, food that arrives cold, hard fruits, reduced rations, dirty water, juices and bottled vinegar, soups with high concentrations of salt, rancid odors and non-compliance with delivery schedules.
Although, as reported by EL COLOMBIANO, complaints about the poor quality of food had been growing since last January, the leak of this new report once again put on the table the need to take urgent measures.
Although the audit in question appears dated June 30, it was last Wednesday, August 10, that the board of directors of that entity reported having held an extraordinary session and summoned the contractor to discuss how an improvement plan that was formulated is progressing. .
“At the meeting, the contractor and the inspector were summoned. Both parties were listened to and some commitments were established”, said Leidy Jiménez, president of the board of directors of the General Hospital.
However, for several of the political leaders who have followed up on the contracting of the hospital, this response would not be enough and it would require that the control organisms set their sights on the entity.
According to what is read in the current contract, executed by a company identified as Corporación Ser Colombia (see Parenthesis), the relationship would last until at least December 2023.