Given the proximity of the now tropical storm Elsa to the country, the Dr. Ernesto Guevara General Teaching Hospital, the most important health facility in Las Tunas, adopts measures to protect material resources, preserve the lives of workers and patients, and guarantee the continuity of the medical assistance.
Las Tunas, Cuba.- Dr. Henry López Jiménez, director of the center, referred to 26 that the resources are insured in the food and medicine warehouses to avoid economic losses. In this sense, the drug reserves were updated to respond to any eventuality.
The heads of services, departments, and areas, together with the Security and Protection agents, carried out tours to assess the risks and minimize possible damages. Likewise, the generators were checked and the existence of fuel and batteries; as well as the water pumping system, he explained.
Environmental sanitation work was not lacking, such as clearing ditches and drains, pruning trees, and organizing waste collection by Communal Services. The means of communication, as mobile and fixed telephony, were updated to guarantee adequate information.
Priority was given to the structural and functional protection of the laboratories, the PCR sample collection sites, and other activities that put the biological safety of workers and patients at risk while the meteorological event lasts.
López Jiménez meant that they secured vital programs, such as the Maternal and Child, the one for prevention and control of COVID-19 and arboviruses, with resources for a week's coverage.
At the same time, it was possible to reduce the number of admissions to maintain the availability of beds, besides increasing the capacities for confirmed and suspected high-risk cases of COVID-19. “In the hospital, we set up an isolation room that meets all the requirements to assist this type of patient. We have the means of protection and qualified personnel.”
As part of the preventive measures, the dismantling and evacuation of the equipment that could be affected by the winds associated with the meteorological event were carried out. Today, the center has serums, medicinal oxygen, blood, and other vital supplies, including those intended for the care of patients receiving hemodialysis.
“We have a command post that will provide constant information to the Provincial Health Directorate and all its counterparts on the coverage of oxygen, water, medicines, chlorine, liquefied gas, fuel, transport, generators, the boiler of the warehouses, and the hospitalization figures.”
