Chile earthquake: need to invest in public health, support health workers

PSI affiliate Fenpruss asks the new Government to make the rebuilding of hospitals a priority and to reassess the Health Services Network

The Federation’s President stressed that “right now, it’s more important than ever to invest in Public Health”.

After the earthquake and tsunami that affected the southern central region of Chile, the National Federation of Health Service University Professionals (FENPRUSS) has stressed how urgent it is that action be taken quickly to deal with the effects of this disaster.

“During our visits to hospitals in the 8th Region, we saw how very seriously they had been affected. There are also several rural first aid posts that were not only affected by the earthquake and the tsunami, but also by the looting”, stated Claudio González Jara, the President of FENPRUSS.

Experts think it will take three yeas to return to normality, and it is thought that the Government will need to invest $3.600 million to rebuild the hospitals damaged by the earthquake.  

“This”, he added, “will mean having to plan afresh all our professional and health-related activities. Urgent action will have to be taken to deal with the challenges to public health which are to come: gastrointestinal illnesses due to lack of hygiene and water in overcrowded conditions, and mental health problems, with a population afraid of returning to their homes in case of aftershocks, and health workers affected by the constant worry about what may be happening in their homes while they work exhausting shifts”.

He also said that dialogue and discussion with the health workers who kept the system going throughout this emergency will be vital in the phase of reconstruction and reinstallation of the health system.

“We should use this crisis to reassess how the health services network is set up. In the disaster area we have serious communication problems, and it is essential to increase decision-making capacity in non-specialist hospitals, though they have to be centres with a good standard of care”, stated González.

Key aspects of healthcare for the new Government

“It is now more essential than ever to increase the contribution of the GDP to healthcare and investment in this sector. Finance for the rebuilding of hospitals must come from the State. We who live in the affected areas have experienced the response of the water and electricity companies throughout: they still have left some areas without these basic supplies, and therefore it is legitimate to ask how they are likely to act when the mass media are not scrutinizing them as closely as they are now”

The union leader González considers that “For the new government the key to this matter is to talk to the people who experienced the earthquake, to take a new look at the health network, strengthening the role of non-specialist hospitals, to make progress on plans concerning the mental health of health workers and the population affected, and, above all, to increase health spending in order to rebuild the health centres destroyed by the earthquake”.

Claudio González Jara is the National President of FENPRUSS  and a National Councillor of the CUT-Chile. He is also the Coordinator of the Health Services Task Force for the Southern Cone, Public Services International