Patients and medical and nursing staff at the Marieta Conder Bornhausen hospital in Itajaí, on the northern coast of Santa Catarina, complain of overcrowding in the ward, with patients scattered along corridors and even on mortuary stretchers. The images were transmitted by Grupo ND this Thursday morning (26).

Faced with overcrowding, Marieta Hospital patients remain on morgue stretchers – Photo: Reproduction/Bruno Golembiewski/ND

The nurse, who wished to remain anonymous, said that there was an oncology patient in the morgue on a stretcher due to overcrowding in the department. Family members went to change the patient’s clothes, who ended up falling backward and hitting her head.

“Simply because when the hospital is full, we ask the management to send a letter to inform other hospitals in the region, but even then, even when the hospital is full, the management orders patients to be admitted, orders everyone to be filled, orders the patient to be put in the corridor, orders the patient to be placed in all corners,” the professional condemns.

A cancer patient fell from a morgue stretcher at Marieta Hospital. Photo: Reproduction/ND

The images show the patient still lying on the floor with her lower half exposed. “Everyone is extremely tired of the lack of equipment. The medical team, the nurses, everyone is tired. It’s very difficult to work inside,” he says.

The team claims to have contacted the MPSC (Ministry of State of Santa Catarina), which no date + stressed that she has not yet received any complaints about overcrowding at the Marieta Hospital.

Marieta Hospital has been facing overcrowding for months – Photo: Reproduction/ND

In Balneario Camboriu, the Ruth Cardoso Hospital is also overcrowded and there are no vacancies for nurses.

Overcrowding: what Marieta Hospital says

In the note, Marieta Hospital confirmed that it, like other hospitals in the region, has experienced overcrowding in recent months. There is great demand for a hospital to serve the greater North Coast area. See the entire note.

Marieta Hospital, especially in recent months, has faced overcrowding, as have other hospitals in the region. We are an open hospital, which means we welcome a flow of patients from an entire region, a region that has grown in population and tourism.

Marieta Hospital claims overcrowding – Photo: Bruno Golembiewski/ND

Therefore, we also welcome tourists who are looking for a hospital department. We perform hundreds of services every day. The number of people passing through our facilities is enormous. The bathroom turned out to be dirty, we are in the hospital, but the plumbers immediately cleaned it.

Patients are sometimes left on stretchers but are transferred as soon as possible. We work for the good, in partnership with the municipality and the state. We organize and maintain queues in accordance with the principle of fairness that SUS stands for.

We often place patients on our contract floor, which accounts for 7% of care and helps us alleviate some of the financial shortfall that every SUS-heavy hospital faces.

When we opened the health insurance department for SUS patients, we received neither health insurance nor SUS itself because we exceeded the number of contracted beds. We make mistakes, like any health service. And we are trying to fix them. In any case, no matter how many complaints we receive, we are always here, doing our best and keeping the doors open.