A large number of Gran Canaria doctors appeal to the public, as medical professionals and staff members in the main Insular Hospital Universitario, having signed a group statement, trying to convey to the population their growing concern about the evolution of coronavirus in the capital of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The statement, which was released by Dr. Víctor Pons, a long standing and well respected member of the Emergency Service at the hospital, and medical officer for UD Las Palmas subsidiaries, is as follows:
We are direct witnesses to the very serious situation that a second wave of the pandemic is assuming.
In the last 10 days we see how cases are increasing exponentially, putting the collapse of the health system at risk.
Our responsibility is to attend to all those people who arrive due to a suspected Covid19 diagnosis, as well as all those who arrive with other pathologies.
We must take into account the increasing attention of migrants in boats who arrive with a high rate of infection, so they must all be considered as potentially positive cases.
Nor is the number of patients admitted to Social Health residences negligible, as well as the two penitentiary centres on the island, which are part of the southern zone of the island and therefore the area of coverage and responsibility of the Insular Hospital . And finally, [we wish to] highlight the increasingly growing Covid population, all those positive patients, who demand assistance for some reason that has nothing to do with Covid19. Our responsibility is to serve them and their close contacts in equal conditions of protection, both for the patient and for the staff, and in isolation.
Both human and non-human resources are limited and it is now more than ever that we must call for individual responsibility.
We ask for a rational use of both hospital and out-of-hospital emergency services and [that people] attend only in those cases of real need.
Thank you. Signed by the 28 deputies of the service.
Please spread”.
Gran Canaria doctors appeal
Feature image: Doctor Víctor Pons C. Torres / Tinta Amarilla
