Four new cases of latent tuberculosis were detected at the Hospital de Portimão, in two nurses and two operational assistants, denounced this Wednesday the regional directorate of the Algarve of the Portuguese Nurses Union (SEP).
Shortly after the administration of the Algarve Hospital Center (CHA) have denied that there has ever been a high pressure isolation room in their Portimão unit and having urged union members to apologize for what it considered “systematic and voluntary misrepresentation”, the SEP/Algarve also now demands an apology, but from the hospital center administration “to nurses and other workers”.
Demands from both sides that are linked to the “war” of positions that are open between the union representatives of nurses and those responsible for the Algarve hospitals, on whether or not there was an isolation room in Portimão, which has since been deactivated.
In a press release, the CHA administration stated that "there is not, nor has there ever been, any negative pressure room" at the Hospital de Portimão. «What existed in Portimão was an isolated office, which served as a material warehouse and had a sign at the entrance saying “isolation”. But that room was never used as isolation, nor was there ever any negative pressure", he assured, in statements to Sul Informação, the Nurse Director of the José Vieira dos Santos hospital center.
Even so, the union "reaffirms everything it said and proved it either through photos or by testimony from colleagues." “Whenever there was an indication to place a patient in the existing isolation room, a nurse responsible for the provision of care was assigned and the engineers were asked to turn on the system”, he describes.
For the SEP, the deactivation of the room in question, where the screening currently works, increased the risk of exposure of healthcare professionals at the Hospital de Portimão to contagious diseases, such as Tuberculosis.
And, despite having been denouncing several cases of tuberculosis among professionals working in Portimão, the union makes it clear that "it never spoke of an outbreak of tuberculosis", as the CHA administration mentioned in the press release it sent to the newsrooms, but Yes in cases that cause them concern.
“It is the responsibility of CHA to promote safe environments. It is curious to see that the Board of Directors does not pronounce on the legal responsibility for the lack of health surveillance of its workers. Nor does it say anything about the frequency of screening for tuberculosis in accordance with the guidelines of the DGS», accuses the SEP.
From the administration of the CHA, comes the guarantee that the proper monitoring is being done, which will have allowed, moreover, to elude the cases now reported, according to the nurse José Vieira dos Santos.
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