RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – With the advance of Covid-19, health professionals continue complaining about working conditions – with good reason. Particularly in Brazil, less than half of them received some kind of training during the pandemic, according to information released by Bori News Agency.
The survey, conducted by the FGV (Getulio Vargas Foundation) with 1,520 public healthcare professionals, found that 52.2 percent of them have not been trained in any way.
In parallel, 94.5 percent of respondents know a coworker diagnosed or suspected of Covid-19 infection.
“After so many months since the start of the pandemic, we expected that health professionals’ situation would be better. But the scenario we found is disheartening, a result of government neglect: frightened professionals, who feel unprepared and untrained, who have not received IPEs (Individual Protection Equipment) or permanent testing,” says Gabriela Lotta, head of the survey.
According to the expert, the consequence of this is a tremendous number of stressed professionals with mental health problems, and with no end in sight for the pandemic.
Not only in Brazil
According to an article published yesterday by Business Insider, professionals in the United States are complaining about being seen as “villains” and of being ignored while trying to save lives.
“Sometimes it is still difficult to change the notion that this is real,” said Lacie Gooch, an ICU nurse in Nebraska, about her patients.
For professionals, resistance in accepting the disease is not an isolated problem – but rather the reflection of the attitude of leaders towards the disease. One point in common in both countries: both Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro are resistant to the measures to contain the disease.
“It’s simply devastating to be at this point where people have been getting mixed messages and many people are getting sick because of it,” says Dr. Eli Perencevich, an infectious disease specialist who assists coronavirus patients in the city of Iowa VA Medical Center.
Source: Exame