Pediatric services in Bogotá ‘are bursting at the seams’ due to respiratory peak and pediatricians report attacks; Ministry of Health assures that measures have been taken

Diocel Lancheros, president of Sicolped, explained to EL TIEMPO that there have already been cases of attacks on pediatric doctors and health personnel by parents who demand attention from their children and who are faced with delays of up to six hours. in emergency care. A reality that could have been avoided and that puts children at risk, as it increases the possibilities of avoidable morbidity and mortality due to poor management of minors.

“In Bogotá the pediatric services are frankly overworked. Year after year, the respiratory peak arrives between April and June, but this year it has arrived with special intensity and has overwhelmed unprepared services. There is a lack of personnel at all levels, that is: nursing, doctors, specialists. The few pediatric services that remain are collapsed. In many institutions, patients with intensive care criteria are being managed in emergency departments or inpatient services. This generates risks for patients, since it generates the possibility of avoidable morbidity and mortality in these services, as the children are managed in services where the staff does not have sufficient training and, above all, time for their care.”Lancheros highlights.

According to data from the Bogotá Health Observatory, as of May 29, 96.1% of pediatric beds in Intermediate Care and Intensive Care were occupied. Furthermore, the hospitalization rate reached 93% in the pediatric setting. In the Southern Subnet alone, which has 12 Pediatric Intensive Care Unit (PICU) beds enabled, there are currently 13 children in the emergency room with ICU admission criteria.

(Also read: Given the increase in infections, the Government and WHO ask to ‘have an up-to-date vaccination schedule’)

This reality has led some hospitals and clinics to also issue a warning call. One of them is the San Ignacio University Hospital, which on May 17 reported that it had overcrowding in the pediatric emergency service.

“The call is for people to go to the emergency service, only when their health condition warrants it: Urgency: It is the alteration of the physical or mental integrity of a person, caused by trauma or an illness, of any etiology. that generates a demand for immediate and elective medical attention aimed at reducing the risks of disability and death (Decree 422 of 1992). If this is not the case for your son or daughter, we invite you to request a priority appointment with Pediatrics,” said San Ignacio at the time.

In that sense, Sicolped sent a right of petition to the Secretary of Health of Bogotá, Gerson Bermont, requesting that several measures be taken to contain the problem. “We respectfully request the following: That the District Health Secretariat carry out actions that in practice lead to effective containment of the respiratory peak, allowing timely, safe and comprehensive quality care for all children in the city. Take the necessary actions so that, in the coming years, by January 30, there is a contingency plan that in practice leads to children being cared for in safe, timely and quality conditions, including reinforcement in Human Talent, supplies and medications, as well as the expansion and reconversion of services,” said Sicolped.

The union also pointed out that although the dynamics of the respiratory disease is predictable in the city, which allows preparation to be made for the containment of outbreaks and epidemics due to said pathology, during 2024 a lack of supply and administration has been reported. of essential supplies and medications for the management of children with respiratory disease, such as adrenaline.

In addition to this, as reported in circular 016 of May 3, 2024 of the District Health Secretariat, despite the respiratory peak, the number of pediatric hospitalization beds enabled in the city was reduced compared to January.

As Luis Alexander Moscoso, undersecretary of Health Services and Insurance of Bogotá, explained to EL TIEMPO, although it is true that during the last week there have been increases that have pushed the system’s capacity to the limit, all patients were has provided the required attention.

According to Moscoso, the arrival of the respiratory peak was something that they had monitored since the beginning of this year and measures began to be taken since the beginning of May, with circular 016. Among these measures are the request to providers to open or reopen PICU, in addition to daily monitoring of the situation.

“We are doing a great job that has generated that, despite the huge peak that we are having at this moment, we have had capacities that, although with a high occupancy and sometimes with delays in the opportunity for consultation, not triage 1, 2 and 3, which are vital for life, but rather consultations that provide a space to be attended to, in triage 4 and 5, all users have been guaranteed care and so far with high occupancy rates and some difficulties we have attended to them. (…) We anticipated the peak and anticipated the actions and elements and perhaps that is why we are not in a more complex epidemiological condition.”Moscoso noted.

The official emphasized that several of the requests that Sicolped makes to the Ministry of Health have already been attended to, either through actions that have already been carried out previously or will be carried out as approved in the recently approved District Development Plan. in the Bogotá Council.

“We are not aware of a lack of medicines and supplies. But we are aware that we are living in a complex moment where the insufficiency of medicines has been observed in many areas. We do not have this type of event in specific information on pediatric issues. This is an issue that worries the city and in which we hope that the national government adopts the necessary measures to guarantee that the medicines that the country requires are available,” highlighted the undersecretary.

Finally, Moscoso assured that the increase in cases that have been recorded in recent days has already stabilized and is beginning to decrease, which frees up the capacity of providers to have ICU beds available if required.