The unstoppable rise in respiratory viruses in recent weeks, especially influenza, has caused a wave of admissions to public hospitals in Murcia that is challenging the care capacity of some of the health system’s emergency departments. All to the point of beginning to «saturate» hospitals that have been forced to refer the first patients to other private and state-subsidised hospitals due to the lack of beds.
The first of these has been the Rafael Méndez hospital in Lorca, a reference centre in Area III of Health, which has already ‘transferred’ more than a dozen patients to the Virgen del Alcázar, also located in the Ciudad del Sol.
The Rafael Méndez Hospital refers patients to the Virgen del Alcázar due to «the lack of beds» in the face of the increase in respiratory infections.
This was denounced on Monday by the Federation of Health and Socio-sanitary Sectors of Comisiones Obreras in the face of a «saturation» which is aggravated by «the lack of beds» in hospitalisation. «They have had to agree on around twenty beds with the hospital Virgen del Alcázar».
«Until Tuesday there were 13 patients referred to this private hospital who were attended during daytime hours by the staff of the Rafael Méndez Hospital, leaving the staff of the private hospital for the night hours,» they explained.
Los Arcos, ready to attend to users of the Arrixaca and the Santa Lucía if necessary
For their part, sources from the Regional Ministry of Health of the Region of Murcia pointed out that in the Rafael Méndez «no surgeries or consultations have been suspended», although they added that «there are peaks of demand for care due to the incidence of influenza, as happens in all health centres, but patients are being attended to and the contingency plan is activated».
In addition, the department headed by the councillor Juan José Pedreño announced that «the Emergency Department staff will be reinforced with two more doctors».