The measure was applied to prioritize the local population in the face of long delays. In which cases they will continue to be received.
a hospital of chubut announced that will stop giving appointments to patients from Chileas a way of prioritizing the local population before the long delays to find medical appointments and system saturation. The decision comes weeks after the reestablishment of an agreement signed between the provincial government and the neighboring country, by which the Chilean government must pay the cost of the care of trans-Andean citizens.
The suspension was announced on Sunday by the staff of the Hospital Zonal de Esquel, who in a note warned the Directorate that “they will not receive requests for appointments from patients from Chile” complaining of difficulties and long lines that local residents must face to access a scheduled medical visit.
The measure is promoted by the Statistics sector of the medical center and by the local branch of the UPCN union. Its objective is to expose the “abandonment of the management area to the user and health information” of the hospital.
“Patients from Chile who wish to be treated should contact a shunt for any benefit that is not provided in hospitals in the neighboring country,” said oncologist Carlos Winter, director of the medical center.
In addition, the UPCN union declared itself in a “state of alert” and anticipated two-hour measures for this Wednesday, the newspaper reported. Working day.
Last November, the Esquel Zonal Hospital had reestablished an agreement to care for Chilean patients that had been suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
By that agreement, the The Government of Chile should be responsible for the expenses of the referrals of Chilean patients residing in three towns in the neighboring country who could not undergo “CT scans, surgeries or complex studies” in local health centers. These are Chaitén, Futaleufú and Palena, located less than 10 kilometers from the border.
The Esquel Zonal Hospital is a general medical center for rural populations, in addition to providing care to the local population. That is why the Chubut government returned to the guidelines of the agreement that was in force for six years, before the Covid health emergency.
“The beds that we have are not many and sometimes we have the hospitalization room at the limit. It must be taken into account that the Zonal Hospital of Esquel is the head of the entire Andean region of Chubut and receives patients from 14 rural hospitals. Therefore, the demand is great and sometimes we don’t have a physical place for the number of patients that come to us,” Winter said in mid-October, when the reinstatement of the agreement was announced.
On that occasion, both Winter and the former Chubut Health Minister Fabián Puratich remarked that Chileans who needed urgent medical attention would continue to be accepted.