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“Who has the right to choose who deserves the investment?” Asks a professional who works on the front line in the fight against the coronavirus in Recife.
“Every day we discover something new about this disease, but I can say that the prognosis is bleak.” This is how Dr. Eduarda Barata, an infectious disease resident in Recife, Pernambuco, classifies Covid-19. Eduarda studies at the Oswaldo Cruz University Hospital, a reference in the state to combat the pandemic, and attends the Correia Picanço State Hospital and one of the six field hospitals established in the capital of Pernambuco, in addition to working in the private network.
In the front line in the fight against the pandemic, the doctor works directly with patients infected with the new coronavirus and needs to deal daily with a health system on the verge of collapse.
According to the latest report from the Ministry of Health, the disease has already killed 415 people and left at least 4,898 infected in Pernambuco. The state is the fourth with the highest number of cases (behind São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Ceará) and the third in the number of deaths in the country. The beds available in the ICU are almost occupied, reaching an occupancy rate of 97%.
“If the health system, and then I am not only talking about Recife, but the entire metropolitan region, has not yet collapsed, it is close to that. I recently started working in one of the field hospitals and I see that many patients cannot get to the referral hospitals on time, they end up going to the field hospitals with a very high severity, that there, wherever they are, we could not reverse (the image) “, evaluates.
“In the Oswaldo Cruz ward, we have just over 100 beds for patients with Covid-19, 90% of them are confirmed with the disease and this number is gradually increasing. There is an “infinite” source of patients with an absurd potential of gravity who arrive every day “, adds the doctor.
According to her, the ICUs are also full and the queue is getting bigger. The hospital has created a regulatory service to deal with the situation, but choosing which patient should be in bed is not an easy task. “I have no words to describe how difficult this is. Who has the right to choose who deserves the investment or not? But increasingly this is our reality ”, he laments.
There is no consensus
When asked about the true severity of the infection, the resident says that not even among the most experienced infectologists, who have experienced other major epidemics, there is a consensus about it, but she guarantees that the most serious stage of the disease is devastating. .
“The disease remains a mystery. Every day there are several articles about it, and if we all get together we can’t talk about it for 10 minutes. What we do know is that it causes a very severe respiratory condition, since this is what is killing people and not only because of the lack of structure, but also because the disease is treacherous, it begins silently, but when it worsens, it is immediately and many times, even if you have everything in your hands, you have nothing else to do, “he says.
For the doctor, the lack of information on the behavior of the disease is one of the main problems that doctors face.
“This difficulty is what makes the patient so difficult to manage, since we still do not know what is the key moment to intervene before he becomes absurdly serious. And the Covid-19 image is a little different from other diseases that also cause severe respiratory syndrome. This speed of evolution is what we still do not understand why and that leaves us with our hands tied, “explains the doctor, citing that many patients enter hospitals and die in less than 24 hours.
Travel, stress and fear
Eduarda Barata says that she and her colleagues changed their routines and a significant increase in their working hours due to the pandemic.
“Everyone has a much heavier workload because they need people to care for these patients. Outside of the professionals who also get sick and retire, ”he says.
In addition to the long journey, professionals must deal with the risk and fear of contamination.
“Every day you have to remove someone, every day there is a hole in the scale. I did not have a close colleague to get serious, but we hear daily reports from professionals who lost their lives or are hospitalized, ”reports the doctor who was fired for five days on suspicion of having the disease.
According to the latest bulletin from the Pernambuco State Health Department, 1,488 health professionals tested positive for Covid and 982 other cases were ruled out. The folder reiterates that Pernambuco was the first state to create a protocol to evaluate health professionals.
EPI
Eduarda also comments that the lack of the necessary security equipment is a reality. “The lack of protective aprons is our biggest challenge, so much so that the recommendations for use have changed and some protocols have been made more flexible, which has generated many conflicts mainly between unions. It is a delicate issue, because it is our protection what is at stake, but it really does not have enough aprons and therefore it is necessary to design rationalization strategies, “he says.
The doctor mentions that the climate is one of tension between health professionals and that “in general, everyone is nervous about it.” “It is a constant tension. For sick colleagues, for critically ill patients, for fear of being next. For fear of bringing this inside the house and putting her family at risk, I know people who even moved to avoid putting their family at risk. The emotional charge is very great. Every time someone coughs, people are scared in the hospital, “says the doctor.
“I am a doctor and an infectious disease. I chose my profession knowing that I would always be exposed to many diseases. Everyone who works saving other people has this exposure. I need to stay calm to do my job, “he concludes.
By note, the Pernambuco government reported that “it has spared no effort to expand the network to confront Covid-19 in the State.” According to the government, so far, 712 exclusive vacancies for the disease have been created in the state public network and a constant schedule has also been adopted to open new beds in all states.
The Recife City Council reported in a note that six field hospitals had already been opened. According to the municipal administration, since the beginning of the pandemic, a total of 2,124 patients have been treated in these field hospitals, in addition to having already registered 460 discharges in these new beds. Last Tuesday (21), Mayor Geraldo Júlio (PSB) announced the acquisition of 2 million new PPE and also the hiring of 1,346 other professionals to combat the covid-19.
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