The Ciro Redondo Hospital was in terrible condition long before, without running water and with leaks
14ymedio, Havana, November 12, 2024 — During the passage of Hurricane Rafael through Artemisa, the Ciro Redondo García Provincial Hospital had to transfer three people on ventilators, pregnant women and other patients to safer rooms, since the rain and winds caused damage to the roof and broken glass, especially on the fourth floor. The center also has serious problems with leaks and the water supply, but these, the official press itself recognizes, are “long-standing.”
A report published this Tuesday in the local media El Artemiseño gives an account of the damage: the hurricane “caused broken glass and rendered one cubicle useless” in the therapy unit; “significant effects were detected in false ceilings,” and there were “collapses in the medical services unit and the maternity ward,” Dr. Guianeya Encinosa Moreno, deputy director of Medical Assistance, tells the newspaper.
El Artemiseño defines as “bleak” the panorama, which, it says, shortly after the disaster some users were already sharing on social networks. However, “there were those who speculated about the lives of the hospitalized patients,” and it clarifies that no one was in danger.
Indeed, the images of broken windows, doors torn from frames, wet beds and flooded floors in the Ciro Redondo were among the first be shown on the networks. In fact, according to official data, in the province there are 119 public health centers affected in 11 municipalities. Most have damage to the roofs and carpentry, although “raised water tanks in 14 centers” were lost, and there are ” breakdowns in two generators and two ambulances, in addition to damage to electrical and air conditioning systems.”
The media applauds the fact that, a few days after Rafael damaged the hospital, the authorities are already planning to “revitalize” the wards
But the media applauds that, a few days after Rafael damaged the hospital, the authorities are already planning to “revitalize” the hemodialysis, imaging and emergency wards, in addition to replacing the waterproof covering of the roof and repairing the glass and aluminum.
However, the hope that the problems of access to running water would also be solved was dashed by Yanelis Amador Borrego, director of Public Health in the province, who explained that this presents “a greater difficulty.” “The hydraulic networks are obstructed by a layer of thick magnesium. This matter requires the analysis of the source of supply and an important investment,” she said.
Not even El Artemiseño understands how a hospital can continue to function when water cannot reach the wards for surgery, maternity care, sterilization, neonatology, perinatal care and hemodialysis.
Water shortages even put the patients at risk. “One of the wards has been closed for months, due to the poor state of the water system, and the maternal critical care ward was closed years ago. If we get a situation like this today, we have to put the patient in one of the four beds that we have left, which represents a very high risk of cross-infections,” confesses nurse Rayma Reinoso Cruz.
Not even the bathrooms, says the media, “have a drop of running water for cleaning,” which “leaves a lot to be desired”
Not even the bathrooms, says the media, “have a drop of running water for cleaning,” which “leaves a lot to be desired.” The same happens with the hygiene of utensils and the patients themselves “for which they use water stored in a container!” the newspaper points out with an exclamation mark as if the problem of hygiene in Cuban hospitals was exclusive to Ciro Redondo.
The repair work, which will begin in the therapy room, which filters water to the hemodialysis unit, will require the hospital to reorganize some of its facilities to make way for the “workers of the 53rd brigade of the Comprehensive Construction Company of Havana” and another brigade from Pinar del Río. Forces specialized in the repair of windows and glass will also intervene, including the Mariel Architecture and Engineering Projects Company.
“We plan to place therapy where the intensive care unit is today. In turn, it will move to the surgery observation area. At the moment we have not thought about sending patients to other hospitals, beyond a specific case, due to the damage that several workers suffered in their own homes,” adds the deputy director of Medical Assistance.
Repair work will also be done in other centers, such as the intensive care unit of the José Ramón Martínez Álvarez Pediatric Hospital in Guanajay. “Here we also need to waterproof the roof and recover the hydraulic connections. Also, the carpentry in the hospitalization ward and its bathroom is in danger of collapse,” listed Yanelis Amador Borrego, director of Public Health.
“Everything that is done in the Ciro Redondo García has to be durable,” demands El Artemiseño, which, in case any reader confuses the expression with a promise, gives a caveat: “It will not be a capital investment, which the hospital needs.”
Translated by Regina Anavy
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