Jacqueline Fanchini (Reporter)MEDICAL staff at Madrid’s Carlos III hospital are unwilling to treat Ebola patients and suspected cases while cleaning staff refused to clean infected areas.
Cleaning staff did not want to sanitise the emergency room where Ebola infected nurse Theresa Romero was treated on Monday.
Labour unions demanded that better protocols be put in place to protect workers as they voiced their fears over the current situation.
On the other hand, medical staff complained about inadequate safety measures and lack of training for dealing with Ebola cases.
The provincial Vice-Secretary of the SAE nursing assistants’ union, Elvira González, explained: “There are staff members who are handing in their notice so that they don’t have to enter.”
She added that medical staff could accuse the hospital’s administration of a public health offence should they be forced to work under inadequate conditions.
Questions about the suitability of protocols and the adequacy of protective suits are being raised.
It has also been reported that patients from the fourth and fifth floors of the Carlos III hospital have been emptied following an order from the regional health department.
Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, and Ignacio González, the head of the Madrid regional government, visited the hospital yesterday.
Rajoy reiterated his belief that the ‘risk of contagion is very low’ and thanked medical staff for their ‘efforts, dedication and work’.
Nevertheless fear seems to be spreading in the capital, while workers – and their families – who have been involved with patients under observation are allegedly starting to be ostracised.
Rajoy: Stop messing about with your health professionals and GIVE THEM THE PERTINENT AND CRUCIAL INFORMATION THEY NEED!
As a medical professional, I find this whole situation we’ve had to reach in Spain inadmissible.