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A Unicamp this week announced a plan to reduce spending and minimize the impacts generated by covid-19. The pandemic increased additional health care costs in the Hospital das Clinicas (HC) – the unit, in Campinas (SP), is a reference for the treatment of serious cases in the interior of São Paulo, and will decrease budget revenues. The estimate is for a drop of up to R $ 220 million in the expected transfer from the state government, due to the calculated reduction of ICMS: the tax is the main source of funds for the university.
The State University of Campinas (Unicamp)
Photo: Antonio Scarpinetti / Press release / Estadão Content
“We can’t afford to pay this bill alone,” said the dean of the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Marcelo Knobel, after a superficial calculation to report the additional costs facing the AIDS pandemic covid-19 brought. There are special beds in the HC, isolation of the area, additional supplies for the health and research units, such as masks and gloves, reagents and test equipment, studies and assistance to the public, in addition to medications, personnel expenses, among others.
A Unicamp is one of the three public universities in the state of Saint Paul that since the beginning of the crisis the new coronavirus He directed his public health care structures and scientific knowledge research and development projects to confront the covid-19 – the others are USP and Unesp. He was the first to suspend face-to-face activities and one of the first to be able to carry out coronavirus by Butantã Institute.
From the beginning, a multidisciplinary working group of researchers from the Unicamp for the covid-19. On different fronts, they are working on studies on alternative reagents to identify the disease, therapies for the treatment of patients, such as the use of plasma (liquid part of the blood) of recovered patients in critical and moderate patients, on the action of the virus in El impact of the pandemic on society, among others.
Beds
In the health area, HC gives Unicamp assigned 30 of its ICU beds, 52 in all ICU operating beds, from the adult ward to suspected patients covid-19 and 10 others from the pediatric ICU. With the possibility of reaching the limit of 300 beds, in an extreme case. Until this weekend, the scenario is of apparent tranquility, with low demand and occupancy in the range of 50%, last Friday.
Resources were promised to open 20 new ICU beds. But the university needs resources to buy special materials to deal with suspected coronavirus cases and investigative teams.
“It is not easy. First, because we are always overloaded, the situation in HC was critical before covid-19, and now it is even more serious, “says the rector.” We have been negotiating, talking, but so far no additional resources have been received. ”
Unlike the other two public universities in Saint Paulthe Hospital das Clinicas and other health areas are part of the general budget of the Unicamp, already in deficit by 2020: the document foresaw R $ 2.7 billion in expenses and R $ 2.5 billion in income. This causes “extra expense” in covid-19 weigh even more at the college ATM. In USP, for example, the cost of HC It is linked to the State Department of Health.
The prospect of maximum service in the interior of São Paulo and the announcement of sending patients from the capital, where the bed occupancy rate is already 90%, aggravates the alert. “The health system is a unique system and we are part of the SUS. We will respond to the referral system, within our means,” he explains. Knobel.
According to the rector, HC gives Unicamp It will help patients who are transferred from other regions through the vacancy regulation system of the State Department of Health. But he cautions: “Of course, within our limits and our ability to serve, otherwise it would really put people’s lives at risk.”
Cuts
The dean of Unicamp is also the current president of the Council of Rectors of the Universities of the State of São Paulo (Cruesp). He says that the situation in the other institutions is also not peaceful. “We understand that we need to receive the necessary resources to collaborate,” he warns. “With the overall decline in ICMS, universities will certainly suffer greatly, as will municipalities, businesses. We cannot pay this bill alone.”
Calculation published by Unicamp shows that the fall in economic activity can generate a reduction of R $ 172 million, according to state data, to R $ 220 million, calculated by the university itself, in the income of Unicamp 2020. Due to the reduction in the collection of the Tax on the Circulation of Goods and Services (ICMS), by the State.
Estimated figures for falling earnings were released along with the announcement that the university “must take austere measures to preserve its ability to pay its teachers and staff salaries on time and invest in infrastructure.” The spending contingency plan and spending cuts foresee savings of R $ 72 million and include, among the measures, an 80% cut in the hiring of teachers and researchers and the freezing of the professional progression of those who are already hired .
The plan, which still needs the approval of the University Council (Consu), also proposes a 25% cut in the cost of unit costs, revision of contracts, from water and electricity, to restaurants, transportation, cleaning, gardening, cuts in institutional programs. , such as the hiring of professors and researchers, exchange aid scholarship programs, among others. Only the health area is outside the cuts. “As harsh as some of the measures may seem,” reports the university, “it is already known that they will be able to alleviate the current turmoil, thus allowing Unicamp to continue to play its role in an exemplary manner.” a public, economic and political health crisis of the magnitude we face and will continue to face. ”
Without receiving additional resources, neither from the State nor from the Union, to combat covid-19 until now Unicamp It has been based on transfers determined by the Judiciary, which has allocated at least R $ 10 million of the available amounts of lawsuits, and the donations it has been seeking. “We created a donation area. We receive many donations from individuals and companies,” explains the president.
“In this pandemic situation, we are suffering a lot. Until now there has been no additional transfer,” says the president. According to him, spending is high due to the pandemic. Masks, for example, that cost R $ 0.10 are sold at R $ 4.40 or more: the university uses 6 thousand per day. “The situation is desperate.”
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