Montevideo, 22 mar ( EFE).-the Uruguayan Government today called “tranquility and effort” to restore confidence in the health system, damaged by the case of the “Angels of death”, while the opposition demanded responsibilities for “lack of control” that killed at least 15 people.
After several days of AWE and confusion throughout the country by the revelations of the case of two nurses who murdered patients in intensive care units of two hospitals in Montevideo, attempts to control the damage and the search for political consequences took the center of attention today.
The Minister of Public health, Jorge Venegas, appeared for more than seven hours before the Health Commission of the Chamber of Deputies and Senators to explain the actions of the Executive to what happened and respond to consultations of opposition.
According to the Minister, contain the social alarm caused by the events became one of the main objectives of his Ministry, in addition to supporting the health workers, very beaten by what has happened.
“Came to give all the information.” “Now have to do two things: create the tranquility at a difficult and painful time does not create trust, but build it and then rebuild it”, said Venegas, who also sent a message of “strength, courage and confidence” to the health sector of Uruguay.
In this regard, the Ministry responsible for rejected the existence of more cases similar to those in the country and denied having received new complaints.
“If you know of new cases do know, but we have to raise awareness that these are only two murderers who acted in the framework of health.” “That has to mean suspicion for all workers in the sector”, said the director of health of the Ministry, Yamandú Bermúdez to the press.
For the opposition, however, the existence of two murderers who could have acted with impunity within the health of Uruguayan unless you jump any alarm revealed a total “lack of control” of the authorities and the ignorance of the Minister, learned of the case on March 17 while police investigated the events since the beginning of year.
Also reported the existence of reports made in the Maciel Hospital, where she acted one of the assassins, which revealed a huge increase in the mortality of the patients in the intensive care unit which not paid attention.
This document points out that December 2011 had a mortality rate 19% unit, when in the year had never exceeded 4%, and that the hospital authorities began an investigation that did not obtain results “conclusive and irrefutable”.
Said the Deputy of the opposition party national Javier GarcÃa, the situation of lack of “early warning mechanisms” was “chaos” which was “dramatic” results.
“I can believe that controls have worked well and there have been 15 deaths.” It is an attack on the intelligence. “Two years and this volume of dead not can go unnoticed”, said Garcia.
For its part, the Government Deputy Ãlvaro Vega defended the actions of the Government in the case and noted that there was no way that would have controls to prevent “when someone comes out to kill people”.
“How can prevent what was unthinkable?.” Now we have found an unpredictable reality. “Checks are made to prevent errors in care, not to see if some want to kill”, insisted.
Vega also rejected the case of statistics on hospital Maciel as a sign of alarm, the same month as there many fewer patients in the unit and that throughout the year in which it is supposed that one of the nurses acted there barely existed a difference in deaths over the previous of 0.05 per cent year.
La Justicia uruguay indicted nurse Ariel Acevedo, 46, on Sunday by 10 cases of “especially aggravated homicide” and the also nurse Marcelo Pereira, 39 years, five similar cases.
The first worked in the hospital of the mutual Spanish Association and the second at the same health center and Hospital Maciel, dependent on the State, in both cases serving patients in intensive care units.
Both confessed to murdering patients “for piety”, the first of them by applying air in the veins and the second providing different controlled drugs.
For Uruguayan justice there are serious indications that cases of murder “could be quite a few more” of the 15 who initially confessed to.
In addition to that, both in the Ministry of public health as police continue receiving hundreds of complaints from the population by alleged similar cases. EFE
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