the strongest impact, in the south of the Conurbano

With limited resources and exhausted medical staff, cases of Buenos Aires clinics whose intensive care units are saturated due to reaching the limit of their capacity and the inability to treat new patients.

The decor repeats itself: long queues outside the southern medical centers of the Conurbano, with institutions that report that the resources not enough assist both people infected with the coronavirus and those arriving for other pathologies.

Clarín visited different municipalities and encountered various cases, many of which are serious. The Espora clinic, in I adrogate, is among those who said they have reached 100% of their capacity to treat severe cases of Covid-19.

The staff of the Temperley Juncal Sanatorium, for its part, informed by a sign installed on the door of the clinic that they are overwhelmed in their attention span. In the same announcement, they made it clear that they would only attend “life-threatening emergencies”.

In the ascending contagion curve This occurs throughout the Province – and in the country in general – the south of Conurbano shows positivity rates (number of tests confirming contagion, out of the total carried out) above 50% and exceeds the other regions. The average for the rest of the ACS at the end of last week was about 10 points lower.

One of the most affected municipalities in this regard is Florencio Varela. According to the data of the administration, the last “epidemiological week” (from Sunday 11 to Saturday 17 April) was recorded 54.5% of positive cases in testing, with a total of 2,486 confirmed.

These figures are far from coinciding with the figures provided by the situation room of the Ministry of Health of Buenos Aires, which indicate an even higher positivity, above 90%. But beyond the difference (and possible delays in loading data), in both cases, we are well above the 20% indicated by the World Health Organization as a parameter above which one might assume that far fewer cases than real cases are diagnosed.

The figures he provides the Provincial Ministry of Health They are, in general, higher than those that run in the districts, and in the South region, behind Varela appear Esteban Echeverría (63%) and Berazategui (60%). They are followed by Ezeiza (57%), Almirante Brown (56%), Quilmes (54%), Lanús (48%), Lomas de Zamora (43%) and Avellaneda (42%).

“This does not mean that more than half of the inhabitants are infected but it correlates with a very strong circulation of the virus in society», Explains Dr Leda Guzzi, member of the Argentine Society of Infectology.

With varying nuances, the situation is repeated in all the municipalities in the South. “Hospitals are more and more on the outskirts and private sanatoriums are operated”An official from a district in this ACS area makes a graph directly, regardless of whether at the communal level they do not process private sector figures.

Beyond severe cases, patients can sometimes wait six hours for consultations which in many cases do not materialize. Complaints are unnecessary, but private sanatoriums are unable to alleviate the situation.

The need to take care of serious cases of other pathologies affects the total occupancy of beds, not only in intensive care but also, for lack of resources, in other areas of the hospital.

Yes OK a large part of the medical staff is already vaccinated, physical and psychological exhaustion prevents clinics from covering more cases. The situation is such that they are often not able to take the prescribed samples either.

The director of the Santa Clara Clinic of Florencio Varela, Mario Kanashiro, reported that in the first days of April, the percentage of hospitalization in apartments and intensive care had already reached 97% of its capacity.

“We have been with full beds for over a month, in the clinic this had already been indicated only admit emergencies, and close scheduled surgeries that are not life threatening and can be postponed, ”Kanashiro revealed.

In October of last year, when the maximum peak of infections was reached, at the Santa Clara clinic, they added beds for temporary hospitalization in outpatient clinics. Over time they were no longer needed, but this month they took over the packaging to add them again. “We have to plan for the worst-case scenario»Added the director of the clinic.

With around 70% of staff vaccinated and guards covered, Kanashiro warned the short-term outlook is similar very unstable. “We have the situation under control, but if a positive case appears within the professional establishment, we will be in difficulty,” he concluded.

This is the case of Monte Grande Clinic, where this week it was revealed that the intensive therapy was working “at 120%”, that is, in addition to having a full intensive care unit, they had to condition other parts less complex to manage for critically ill patients.

“It’s like being at war,” said Carlos Santoro, director of the clinic. And he said that they were constantly receiving referral requests from other health centers with less capacity: “As soon as there is a free space, it is immediately reoccupied”.

The resolution of the government of Buenos Aires

From the provincial health ministry, it was resolved to implement the Bed management system (SIGEC) in order to obtain information from the health centers to know the state of the beds and manage the corresponding references.

This system was created last year and directs all public and private hospitals in the province of Buenos Aires to make up to four daily updates communicating their availability.

In addition, the information and follow-up of each patient, the transfers and the quantity of respirators in stock are necessary, as well as the authorization of “supernumerary” beds, that is, they exceed the established number of each clinic.

In addition, the provincial government resolved the suspension and rescheduling of any surgery and / or a procedure which can be postponed and which lacks urgency according to medical criteria, to prioritize severe cases of patients with coronavirus.

As indicated, only going down to less than 70% the occupation of beds the hospitals of the Province will again be able to attend to other pathologies which do not belong to the intensive care.