The City of São Paulo will definitively close the Bela Vista Hospital, located in the city center and a reference in serving the homeless population in the capital. The unit had been closed by the state Health Surveillance since the end of October and is currently the target of an investigation by the São Paulo Public Ministry (MPSP) into alleged irregularities and deaths of patients at the location.
The Municipal Health Department (SMS) informed that it is handing over the building where the hospital operates, following the request of the MPSP and surveillance.
Bela Vista was closed on October 31st, after an inspection involving surveillance, the MPSP and the Regional Council of Medicine of the State of São Paulo (Cremesp).
At the time, SMS stated that the reason for the measure was structural problems, but the case’s prosecutor, Arthur Pinto Filho, points out other issues.
According to Filho, the Cremesp survey indicated several irregularities, drawing attention to the occurrence of 17 deaths in the hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) in August and another 15 in September. Of these, six may have involved “grotesque errors”.
The prosecutor highlights that a better analysis of the deaths is still needed to understand the facts. The ministry is also awaiting the Health Surveillance report “to have a joint vision of what exactly happened there”, adds Filho.
According to the promoter, another task in the coming weeks will be to analyze what is the responsibility of the City Hall and what is the responsibility of the social organization that managed the place – the Nova Esperança Philanthropic Association (AFNE). Only then will the appropriate legal charges be made.
Other irregularities
In addition to the ICU, problems were identified in isolation rooms, where there were patients infected with tuberculosis. The place would not have an adequate air treatment system to prevent other people from being infected, says Filho.
The inspection also identified that there were not enough professionals to meet the demand; lack of qualified staff as required by law; incomplete rosters of doctors on duty; irregularities in the surgical materials sterilization center, with failure to separate clean and dirty equipment; inconsistencies in the control and distribution of controlled medications and lack of a Health Surveillance license.
What the city hall says
In a note, SMS reiterates that the closure of the hospital was determined for structural reasons, “aiming at technical adjustments to Health Surveillance standards”. It also says that, as it is a rented property, it cannot directly carry out structural improvements.
Regarding patients, the folder informs that the last people hospitalized at the site are being transferred to other municipal hospitals, as determined by the Health Surveillance. The transfers are expected to end this week.
The hospital opened its doors in 2020 and remained in operation for four years. In the note, SMS highlights that “since its opening during the pandemic, the hospital has provided important health services to the population, being initially opened to meet the demand of patients affected by Covid-19 and, later, referred to the homeless population ”.
This content was originally published in SP City Hall will close hospital investigated for patient deaths on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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