São Paulo's Oldest Hospital Suspends Accident and Emergency Services

07/23/2014 - 10h23

The Santa Casa de Misericódia de São Paulo, the biggest philanthropic hospital in Latin America, closed its accident and emergency unit late on Tuesday (22) afternoon.

The hospital has been struggling financially in recent years and has been involved in disputes with government over resources.

The unit, which served 1500 patients a day in the areas of pediatrics, orthopedics, gynecology and general medicine, stopped receiving new patients. It will only attend to the 140 patients who remain interned there.

The Santa Casa said this is only the second time in its history it has been forced to suspend its services, the other being 40 years ago. Opened in 1884, it is São Paulo's oldest hospital.

It cited a lack of resources with which to buy medicine and materials, blaming the outdated system of the SUS (the Brazilian public health service) in subsidizing medical procedures.

"There's no money for drugs. When I need to buy 100, I can only get 50. We don't have syringes, serum, tape," says Kalil Rocha Abdalla, the administrator at the Santa Casa.

The hospital has debts of US $22.5 million with suppliers who are refusing to deliver orders. As well as the accident and emergency, there are 700 beds with patients who need treatment, says Abdalla.

For Abdalla, the three tiers of government - federal, state and municipal - are to blame.

"It's the fault of the authorities," he says. He claims the authorities were warned of the Santa Casa's plight but thought that the institution was bluffing.

The Ministry of Health expressed "concern" regarding the situation, claiming it had not been warned of what it called a "unilateral measure."

It said it contacted the State Department of Health - the body responsible for the contract with the hospital - to find out what action was being taken.

The state government said that it is providing extra resources to the hospital, to "cover the difference between the real prices and those in the Ministry of Health's system, which have been frozen for years."

The Municipal Department of Health said it contacted the hospital to offer the medicine and material necessary for it to maintain its usual services.

As well as a lack of resources - a standard problem in Brazil's public and philanthropic hospitals - medical specialists say that there are problems with the administration at the Santa Casa.

Abadalla was reelected as administrator for the third time this April.

The Santa Casa has a budget of US $588 million, but total debts of more than US $157 million, which alone generate interest of nearly US $1.3 million a month.

When Abdalla became administrator six years ago, the debt was just US $32 million. He denies that the problems are related to management.

Translated by TOM GATEHOUSE

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	Marco Ambrosio/Folhapress
	The Santa Casa de Misericódia de São Paulo closed its accident and emergency unit late on Tuesday (22)