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With public ICUs close to their maximum capacity or already full of Covid-19 patients, such as that of the Emílio Ribas Institute, São Paulo has buildings that are totally or partially inactive and that housed hospitals, in addition to a unit that is not yet used by full.
In the case of one of them, that of the old Sorocabana, in Lapa, west of the city, this situation reinforced the pressure on the reopening of public power.
The new coronavirus pandemic, which has already caused 4,016 deaths and registered more than 58,000 cases in the country, forced the city council and the state to open hospitals in Pacaembu and Anhembi.
In Lapa, the old Sorocabana Hospital, closed since 2011, today houses an AMA, a Day Hospital and a Specialized Rehabilitation Center (CER). There are two floors occupied and another five completely inactive.
In 2018, the building was sold at auction by the TRT (Regional Labor Court) in order to pay labor debts. However, the sale ended canceled, as the state, which owns part of the land, was not notified at the time.
At least since 2019, social movements have come together to form a collective that fights for the reopening of the hospital. However, a legal muddle prevents it from reactivating.
In 2016, at the end of the administration, Fernando Haddad (PT), the building that belonged to the state, was ceded to the city council for 20 years. Since then, only the three municipal health services have been installed on the site.
“It is a fight that comes from afar. The reopening was a campaign issue since [ex-prefeito] Gilberto Kassab ”, says Márcia Crespo, member of the Committee for the Reopening of Sorocabana and the Pompeia Sin Miedo collective. “Lack of political will”.
Since it closed, says Márcia, the place has already been a set of movies, has entered the sights of businessmen to become a shopping center and house a private hospital. None of this prospered. “We want it to be reopened and public,” he says.
In late 2019, a public hearing held in Lapa seemed to seal the fate of Sorocabana. According to state deputy Raquel Marques of Activist Bench, PSOL, now is the time to revive the hospital. “I can understand the construction of field hospitals, but the Covid -19 crisis can last up to two years [de forma intermitente]”
Some problems, however, weigh this possibility. The definitive possession of the land is one of them.
At the public hearing, according to the people heard by the Sheet, the Secretary of State for Health sent a representative, the municipal secretary did not do the same, who suggested the possibility of an exchange between the municipality and the state with the land of Dante Pazanezzi and Sorocabana.
For Rubens Pinheiro, health advisor representing the western area in the town hall, the reopening of Sorocabana is, in fact, a necessity. However, he says the condition of the hospital building would not allow it to be opened now to treat Covid-19 cases.
“I have no doubt that it needs to reopen. I participated in two visits to the site, but it is necessary to carry out a technical inspection, with a report, to find out what is needed to restore the hospital, ”says Rubens, one of the founders of the committee for the reopening.
Sorocabana was not the only closed hospital in this region of the city. Others, private, such as Panamericano and Itatiaia, have also closed their doors in recent years. Making Sorocabana a reference hospital would be ideal for a population of around 340,000 inhabitants in the region’s neighborhoods, says the counselor.
“Before that, we have a question: who owns this hospital?”, He says, referring to the municipality’s legal insecurity to reopen it.
According to him, in a meeting with the city, a possible investment plan was presented in the recovery of the building and the rigging of the beds. This would be done with a part of R $ 200 million that the IDB will lend. “But for that, you must have a recovery plan, to know what to do,” he says.
About 7 km from there, in Brasilândia, in the north, the district of São Paulo with the highest number of deaths from Covid-19, 280 beds should be directed to patients infected with the new coronovirus, according to the city council, at the hospital de Brasilândia, partially open in March.
“[O hospital] He was detained for two years, but it is a demand from the population over 20 years old, “says former municipal councilor for health, Maria Cícera Salles.
According to her, “the population of Brasilândia has not yet realized” the severity of the pandemic and continues on the streets as if nothing happened. “Another problem is the characteristic of the region, with houses very close to each other. Everything is very dense, “he says.
The city says that the area where the Sorocabana hospital is located belongs to the state, and that the exchange with the municipal area where the Dante Pazzanese Institute is located “was considered, but for legal reasons that involved the old Sorocabana hospital, the transaction it was considered unfeasible. “
According to the Bruno Covas administration (PSDB), investments in that location were not feasible.
Regarding the Municipal Hospital of Brasilândia, the city says that “the hospital is scheduled to open in May, with 150 beds in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), for the treatment of patients affected by the coronavirus in the capital.”
In the unit, 30 nursing beds will also be installed exclusively for the treatment of patients with Covid-19. “As soon as it is fully completed, the Brasilândia unit will be a hospital and a maternity hospital with 305 beds, and will benefit 2.2 million people in the region,” it said in a note.
