Operational in Buenos Aires hospitals by the G-20: red alert, suspended surgeries and protocol against "chemical attacks"

Buenos Aires hospitals are on alert for the

G-20 summit.

Six days ago, the city's medical centers were informed of the health protocol to be applied to a possible wave of injuries following demonstrations against the country's largest multilateral organization or even against any possible " chemical attacks ".

In the affected hospitals – eight of them "on red alert" – they question the brief notice with which they were informed of the operation, which includes the suspension of programmed surgeries, the opening of treatment rooms closed intensive care, suspension of authorizations and verification of supply in blood banks, among other requirements.

Argentina was chosen to host the G-20 summit a year ago and the city of Buenos Aires will host the meeting, which will be attended by world leaders and their delegations on Friday and Saturday. Also protests against him. Last year, protests against the Hamburg summit left hundreds wounded.

Although the general organization of the summit is the responsibility of the national government – including the
operational force of security -, several appearances remained in the hands of the authorities of Buenos Aires. Public health care in the city is one of them.

The protocol

The hospital department issued a statement last Thursday informing the directors of all medical centers in the city of the health protocol they should follow for the international summit and informing that eight of them had been declared Monday, January 26 to "alert red". He also joined a calendar of political and social activities on Thursday and Friday.

The eight hospitals with the maximum alert level were chosen for their proximity to the summit: Fernández, Argerich, Pirovano, Tornú, Santojanni, Quemados, Gutiérrez and Santa Lucía.

A few days before the release of the communiqué, the Hospital Directorate – which reports to the Ministry of Health – ordered the suspension of holidays and departure to all public hospitals in the city "because of the presence of an impending hypothesis of conflict during the meeting. The measure concerned doctors, nurses, technicians, administrators, kinesiologists, psychologists, wardens and factories.

The official protocol to which he had access
THE NATION, Medical centers need to suspend scheduled surgeries, "free beds" in intensive care, "open locked rooms" and "extreme measures" so that all patients doing social or prepaid work "get".

It also recommends that PAMI patients be accommodated "only in a life-threatening medical emergency" and that those transported by SAME ambulances requiring hospitalization be referred to other hospitals. Ask each hospital to "confirm that the respective blood banks have the corresponding supplies" and "to consider the potential needs for this type of event". And expects that in case of "chemical attack" patients must be "decontaminated" by firefighters and referred to other medical centers.

Short notice

In affected hospitals, the inconvenience caused by the notification period of the operation and the lack of information. "There is no way to meet these demands in such a short time, they require a level of preparation that does not correspond to the situation in which the hospitals are, we are overwhelmed and they ask us to open rooms shut down, suspend surgeries and refer patients with coverage. If we could refer patients, we would do it every week, "he said.
THE NATION a doctor from Santojanni, one of eight hospitals on red alert since Monday.

The Buenos Aires Ministry of Health did not answer the NATION's question about why the operation had been reported a week before the summit. Instead, they noted that "normal emergency and emergency coverage in the city will not be affected, hospitals will be organized with different levels of alert, beds will be available both in the rooms and in closed areas and the maximum capacity of the equipment will be available, "health".

"Everything in a week," he complains
THE NATION, subject to his name, a specialist with 20 years of experience at Fernández Hospital, another of the public centers on alert. "We are a week away from the event and there was no exercise, no preparation, no matter, it seems improvised, no one knows what role they will have to badume, the information is misinformation, we are very exposed and the only thing that is more or less prepared is the emergency zone, but that should have been coordinated six months ago ", he added a few days ago.

On Monday, while the red alert was already in place, government officials from the United States and Russia met with the authorities of the hospitals concerned and examined the conditions in which they find themselves for the G-20. A few days earlier, in Santojanni, they had been summoned to a meeting for lack of beds and equipment in the rooms and intensive care and intermediate areas.