In an interview with JM, Júlio Nóbrega, clinical director of SESARAM, received the Journal for an interview at Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça. Unit that, it should be noted, is now 48 years old.
In the revelations made to JM, Júlio Nóbrega talks about several moments that the professionals of that institution, as well as the unit itself, had to face, namely with regard to Covid-19. A time when radical changes had to be made in order to respond to the situations brought about by the pandemic.
“In that first phase of general confinement, we asked the patients to stay at home and not come to the hospital, because we could have a very difficult outbreak inside the hospital. Then the equipment… Today we use around 10 thousand masks at SESARAM. This was unthinkable in the beginning”, he declares, adding: “And there were the old questions about whether we had beds and fans… So what was created? The decisions were mainly based on this: all patients who came to the hospital or health centers had to be screened before entering the facility. It is called pre-screening, in which we asked the patient if he had indicators that could suggest he was infected with covid. By asking this question, we were able to screen patients. Those that are possible covid had to be evaluated in their own areas, the so-called advanced screening and which had as many areas and locations as possible. Nowadays we have a fantastic area, new and fully equipped, with individual negative pressure rooms, where this pre-screening is carried out”, he explains.
When asked if it was necessary to change the physical structure, the director was peremptory:
“Yes. I remember being at home looking at the hospital and thinking that I had to have an area for covid positive patients, one for those who are not covid positive but who may have covid and who have to be in isolation so as not to infect others , and yet another for people who are negative. We have to do surgeries on patients, catheterizations, endoscopies… in other words, I needed three hospitals. I don’t have three hospitals, so we had to build them inside. And that’s what we’ve set up today”.