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The sudden appearance of a patient who had been declared dead a month ago in a hospital in the Guayaquil suburb, epicenter of the pandemic in Ecuador, has become an example. of poor management in hospital morgues in the midst of the health crisis due to covid-19.
The relatives of Alba Maruri Granda, 74 years old and who the authorities considered dead on March 27, have spread this weekend on social networks that in reality the woman had not lost her life, instead, there was some kind of confusion with his name and that of another deceased person.
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I was unconscious
Granda had been admitted to the Abel Gilbert Pontón hospital at the end of last month, with a picture of fever and difficulty breathing, so she was suspected of covid-19.
He would have lost consciousness there, and it was not until this week that he recovered it, after which he identified himself and asked to speak to his relatives. However, the relatives of the alleged deceased they resolved to incinerate the body that was once delivered to them by the hospital, and even donated part of his belongings and clothing, after the grief of the fatal loss.
“The doctors went to my aunt’s house to corroborate and report the error. They still don’t know whose ashes are at home”, assured in a social network one of the nephews of the woman, Juan Carlos Ramírez. The relative specified that despite the vicissitudes, Granda is well and that “miracles still exist”While the family is now waiting for the hospital to return the money they paid for the cremation of the body they thought was her aunt.
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The case comes to light three weeks after dozens of people denounced the disappearance of the mortal remains of relatives in the city’s hospital morgues, and charges that officials in medical centers had demanded of them in exchange for information about the bodies.
A hospital worker was dismissed by the Ministry of Public Health in relation to the management of the mortuary.
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The balance in Ecuador
With 10,400 official infections, Guayaquil accounts for 51 percent of cases in the entire country, which is aggravated by knowing that Guayas, the province of which it is the capital, has added almost 8,000 “extra” deaths since the health crisis began in the country on February 29 and of which, the authorities themselves acknowledge, it is almost impossible to know the exact causes.
The health emergency became dramatic a month ago in the city, the scene of a crisis of corpses that could not be lifted or buried, as authorities, the funeral industry and hospitals were overwhelmed by an extremely high number of deaths, both due to covid-19 as for other causes.
Among the most dramatic situations experienced in the city, there were relatives who said that they had to enter the mobile morgues to look for their relatives and that they never found them.
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The Ecuadorian Prosecutor’s Office investigates since the beginning of the month the existence of an alleged criminal network in charge of collecting money for “deliver bodies of deceased by covid-19”, for the alleged crime of concussion, although to date no progress is known.
Funeral services in Guayaquil are overwhelmed.
On the other hand, the head of the Joint Task Force, Jorge Wated, in command of managing the crisis of the corpses, announced that he will file a complaint for the case of Granda, the woman presumed dead.
“This is the cause of a complaint that I am going to make this Monday for handling morgues in a Guayaquil hospital”, advanced the official, who wanted to clarify that his team does not manage the deposits, but the surveys and burials of the deceased.
For his part, the Minister of Health, Juan Carlos Zevallos, described the event as “creepy”, although he expressed not knowing the details, except that “She is a lady who had a mental disability.”
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Dozens of people are still waiting to find out the whereabouts of their deceased loved ones, some who died more than 20 days ago in hospitals or who were collected from homes in Guayaquil, in the midst of the funeral and health system overflowing.
Despite the fact that the Government launched an official page so that relatives could find out where the people who died or were buried in the midst of the coronavirus health emergency, many questions remain in the city.
And the case of the alleged deceased who never was, has become the sad reflection of a situation that seems to go far beyond punctual negligence.
EFE
