Relatives of the people who died of meningitis in Durango – where the death toll is already 27 – demand justice, while state and federal authorities continue without knowing what caused these deaths. Proceso collects the testimonies of impotence from the husbands of several of the women who lost their lives in recent months due to this disease.
DURANGO, DGO. (Process).– After a period of calm in the health crisis in the entity, suddenly in just two days deaths from meningitis rose from 23 to 27. The authorities admit 72 confirmed cases and a universe of 1,800 people under monitoring.
Those affected ask to investigate the Federal Commission for the Protection against Sanitary Risks (Cofepris) and arrest the fugitive owners of the four hospitals where the deaths have occurred. And those who lost a relative or have a sick person show the pain of the tragedy.
Janet was operated on for cysts on August 19 at the Del Parque hospital by surgeon Omar Padilla. She was discharged, but after three days she presented “atypical” headaches that altered her daily life, recounts her father, Antonio Valdez. On August 26, she was admitted to the Sagrado Corazón clinic in Sombrerete, Zacatecas, where she was unsuccessfully given medication. They decided to move her back to Durango, Don Antonio recounts:
“Padilla asks us to take her to the Rebren hospital. I already had a temperature. She was hospitalized there for five hours and we returned to Zacatecas. Three days later we went back to Durango with Filiberto Flores, our private doctor, because the pain did not go down.
“He sent us to the AMCI with Eduardo Díaz, a neurosurgeon. He communicated by phone with Dr. Luis Ángel Ruano. He told her: ‘Hey, another patient has already fallen with the same symptoms and she comes from the same place: from El Parque.’
“Ruano asked us to admit my daughter to the Reforma hospital,” she adds. “There she underwent many studies for 10 days to reduce inflammation in her brain, then a lumbar puncture and two MRIs at the Vizcaya hospital.”
The family decided to return her to Reforma, where on the 29th, after another puncture, Janet had a stroke. They intubated her and left her in intensive care for half a day. Ruano spoke with the parents and told them that he couldn’t find the formula to help Janet.
“We decided to transfer her to the IMSS, where she stayed for 11 days.” she points out.