“Emergency services must be well equipped for efficient patient care. The biggest criticism at this time is the insufficiency in emergency services and hospitalizationadded to the congestion at the time of requiring specialists”.
These words are from Jorge Humberto Rivas Urrea, Secretary of Health, Family and Social Integration of Rionegro who, in addition, is a doctor by profession.
The official’s words are related to the new emergency unit that the municipality of Rionegroin eastern Antioquia, is about to open.
It seeks to increase the attention of users.
“It is a social investment project that will benefit not only the local community. That is why from the previous government and ours we have proposed, not only to finish the construction, but to equip and put into operation the great emergency room”, adds the official.
In effect, the new room will double its attention span. That is, from 5 patients to 50 at the same time, approximately.
“This with emergency physicians 24 hours a day, with the respective and best staff, among which we highlight the new intensive care beds that have been acquired throughout the pandemic,” complements the mayor of Rionegro, Rodrigo Hernández Álzate.
(You may be interested in: Note: this weekend there is a closure at the José María Córdova airport)
We highlight the new intensive care beds that have been acquired throughout the pandemic
This work will directly benefit 23 municipalities that make up eastern Antioquia, but it is noteworthy that given the circumstances they will also receive patients from other departments or from the Aburrá Valley.
The work has a value of more than 10,000 million pesoshas co-financing from the National Government, the Government of Antioquia and the municipality of Rionegro.
For the local president, this investment was essential for the consolidation of the Rionegro Hospital.
“I think that the greatest impact that we can have with this large emergency room is that we are going to intensify the number of attention, which allows us to reduce waiting times when it comes to being attended, because there were times when users they came to exceed six hours without receiving attention”, he says.
overcoming the deficit
The Rionegro hospital network has services of the maximum specialization that can exist in medical care.
However, for more than 10 years there has been a lack of public and private emergency care.
According to the Municipal Administration, past mayors had been very indolent with investment in health and there was no political will and it was only until the last Administration that the resources for this new emergency room were obtained.
(Also read: This will be the peak and environmental plate for trucks and dump trucks in Medellín)
Similarly, assures the president, that at the subregional level there has been a problem of hospital beds.
“The work arrives at the right time, now we are also addressing the issue of mental health, which will be a fundamental part of the new emergency health service where we include an adequate physical space to attend to all these mental pathologies,” says Secretary Rivas Urrea.
It is estimated that, by the end of March, the work can be delivered which is 93 percent complete, since all the infrastructure and equipment work is close to being completed in accordance with the provisions of the Ministry of Health.
Only the provision of the emergency room had a value close to 1,000 million pesos.
“Despite being a priority infrastructure work, the issue of supplies, technological equipment, imports, medical gases, air conditioners and costs greatly affected the development of the project; but we knew how to cope with it and here we are on the verge of fulfilling a dream”, says Rivas.
(Also read: To prison accused of kidnapping a university student in Medellín for a month)
Pandemic and post-pandemic, a challenge
For the mayor of Rionegro, the pandemic was one of the greatest challenges he had to experience: “these were moments when we decided whether to tighten the economy or preserve life, the principle of saving life was always above”.
On the issue of Intensive Care Units (ICU), in 2020 the Mayor’s Office of Rionegro made an investment close to 1,800 million pesos for six intensive care beds plus other hospitalization.
The emergency room will make it possible to attend to all post-pandemic difficulties, because according to Dr. Rivas, there has been to a certain extent a neglect of chronic diseases in the last two years that are now demanding emergency services that could not be attended due to congestion in the services. as a result of covid-19, which includes surgeries and other types of diseases and pathologies that require emergency services.
They were moments in which we decided whether to tighten the economy or preserve life
However, they claim that the human resource in health with the pandemic has become insufficient to deal with an emergency of this magnitude, so they want to have health teams that are highly empowered in terms of quality, comprehensiveness, and continuity in patient care.
The municipality currently maintains an agreement to care for the uninsured poor population that allows for emergency services, outpatient consultation and chronic diseases.
Hernández assures that they have the resources to continue with the attention, by specialists, that the most humble people of Rionegro require and thus they do not have to travel to Medellín and can receive high-quality attention in the municipality.
Clínica Las Américas arrives in Envigado, south of the Aburrá Valley
Auna, the Latin American network of health and insurance services that originated in Peru 28 years ago, remains firm in its expansion purpose to expand coverage to more users in the country.
That is how launched its third clinic in Colombiasince his arrival in the country in 2018.
This is the southern headquarters of Clínica Las Américas Auna, a medical complex located in the municipality of Envigado, south of the Aburrá valley, in a strategic area that expands the possibilities of health care for the inhabitants of the southern metropolitan area of the valley. of Aburrá.
Auna opens its third medical complex in the country. It has 168 beds.
This new headquarters has 168 beds (25 are for critical units -13 ICUs and 12 CSUs for adults-) and 143 are hospital units (36 shared and 107 individual), emergency units, intensive care and special care for adults, 6 operating rooms for different specialties with a angiography room for neurovascular interventionism, a consultation area with specialties such as orthopedics, neurosurgery, gynecology, cardiology, dermatology and clinical laboratory.
In addition, there will also be diagnostic support with conventional radiology, tomography, ultrasound, echocardiography, resonator and will have specialties such as otorhinolaryngology, toxicology, peripheral vascular surgery (diagnosis, treatment and surgery), endoscopy, endocrinology, nephrology, to name a few; all equipped with state-of-the-art equipment.
In addition, the Las Américas Auna Medical Laboratory, certified by the United States College of Pathology, will operate at the headquarters.
The institution will serve all patients affiliated with prepaid policy and drug plans and complementary and basic health care plans.
“During the pandemic we saw the importance and need for more facilities of this type that allow us to offer users quality health care. Auna has complied with them by expanding its installed capacity, increasing the number of beds, intensive and special care units, and with more specialized services,” said Carlos Antonio Betancur Correa, medical director of regional Auna Hospital Services.
With this new building, the organization will generate about 450 formal jobs for health personnel in its first year, and the expectation is that when the operation reaches its maximum capacity, it will exceed 600.
PABLO ZAPATA MURILLO
FOR THE TIME
MEDELLIN
