Spurred by Bolsonaro, Group Invades Rio Hospital, Kicks In Doors and Damages Computers

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – A group of five people from the same family broke into the Ronaldo Gazolla municipal hospital, a reference unit for the treatment of Covid-19 in Rio, and caused a disturbance in wards restricted to doctors and patients on Friday afternoon.

According to professional reports, a woman, part of the group and visibly disturbed, kicked in doors, knocked down computers and even tried to invade beds of hospitalized patients.

Sources said that the people claimed to be relatives of a patient who died from Covid-19 in the facility earlier that morning. Outraged, a woman who claimed to have been the decedent’s daughter, often shouted: “Lies, lies!”

Alex Telles, unit physician and president of the Rio de Janeiro Doctors Union (SINDMED), said the group challenged the fact that their relative, a woman who was well the day before, died of suspected coronavirus on Friday. The doctor said that the group should not have been allowed by the hospital to climb up to the patients’ floor.

“At the end of the morning, a group of relatives entered the hospital, and they would not be allowed to go up to the fifth floor, since relatives are being assisted on the ground floor. It is an area exclusively for patients with Covid-19, with biological risk 3 (when there is a risk of person-to-person infection by contact or airways). They came in aggressively because a family member died and they would not accept the situation, they said the mother was fine yesterday (Thursday) and asked how she died today. Unfortunately, this disease develops very quickly,” he said.

Telles said that the group was very aggressive, and mentioned President Jair Bolsonaro’s request for supporters to come in and monitor hospitals. The doctor, and class representative in Rio, believes that Bolsonaro’s statement is a threat to doctors working in these facilities.

“They came in very aggressively, opening doors, cursing at employees, scaring patients. The doctors were totally exposed. Unfortunately, the President’s statement, which calls on people to get into a hospital in any way, tends to make them feel increasingly entitled to break the rules. We are there taking care of people, overwhelmed and we are victims of all that”.

In a note, the municipal Health Secretariat explained that a disturbance was caused by five people from the same family who, desperate to hear the news of the death of a relative hospitalized at the facility – a 56-year-old woman – entered the facility upset, broke a sign and slammed a door, causing damage.

The Health Secretariat added that security staff, municipal guards in a car based in the hospital and members of the care team helped circumvent the situation. One of the family members, a woman, needed to be medicated to calm down. In the report, the Health Secretariat also stated that there was no invasion, and that people were allowed to enter the ward.

‘It was devastating’, say witnesses

Witnesses also told that a nurse, caring for an elderly patient, had to use a chair and force the door to stop one of the people from breaking into the room. The commotion only ended when City Guards intervened and removed the demonstrators.

“I heard shouting, I thought it was some patient who was having some kind of psychiatric episode. That’s when a woman ran down the hall and started kicking and screaming, kicking in the doors of patients who were in the infirmary,” said a witness, who, for safety reasons, preferred to remain anonymous.

“I don’t know how they got in. We have security guards in the building…sometimes a man would come in and say, “Don’t touch me!” as if he was intimidating people, reported a professional. “It was devastating. Everybody was screaming so they wouldn’t get into the wards. We were in a situation in which we only thought that we had no way out.”

Another professional, who also asked to remain anonymous, also recounted the moment when the woman’s pain of losing her mother turned into anger.

“She came in breaking everything, out of control, saying she wanted to know about her mother, but at no point did she try to get information. She sneaked in, unauthorized, and we had to close the doors of wards to protect ourselves and the patients, and she forced herself in. It was a very difficult situation, she wanted to beat up my colleagues.”

In footage provided by those who witnessed the commotion, it is possible to see that one of the women, who had to be restrained by guards, even left her slippers behind. In a note, the Municipal Guard said it had been activated to contain the relatives, in particular the daughter, who had lost her mother and was desperate.

“Municipal Guards working at the Municipal Hospital Ronaldo Gazzola were activated by doctors on duty to contain the relatives, particularly the daughter, desperate with the news of the death of a relative. The agents managed to restrain the group – and particularly the daughter, deeply affected by her mother’s death – and managed to preserve the peace inside the hospital”.