City Hospitals Lack Space for Patients with Addictions
<p><span style="line-height: 1.6em;">The Audit of the City of Buenos Aires found that there is a shortfall of resources for dealing with this problem in health effectors of the City of Buenos Aires. The report states, among other things, that "the security guards at the Argerich Hospital do not have a specific place for the care of addiction patients," the Elizalde in the former Casa Cuna, there are no beds in the Toxicology Unit and they only have one specialist in the manner.</span></p> <div> </div>
The report of the Auditor General of the City of Buenos Aires (AGCBA, for its acronym in Spanish) analyzed the implementation of the 'comprehensive addictions Act', established in 2007. The legislation, No. 2318, comes from Escuela de Vecinos’ program (School of Neighbors’), an initiative for students in public and private schools, who have participated in the construction of the project starting from the diagnosis of the problem.
According to the auditors during the period analyzed (2010), Hospital Dr. Cosme Argerich acute care does not have a space dedicated to the care of patients who come to the clinic to treat any type of addiction. It should be noted that "there are rare situations where patients present themselves spontaneously to receive some treatment." In fact, the auditors added that people who attend the Hospitals do so "following accidents caused by consumption (trauma), with paint intoxication or psychomotor agitation."
The General Hospital of Children Elizalde, ex Casa Cuna, however, because they "do not have out-patient beds for the Toxicology Unit, most patients are admitted to the ambulatory care," however, there the "index outbreak is high", the audit explained. In addition, "there is no addiction specialist care team –there is a psychiatrist, but not formally designated- and they only have one toxicologist."
Something similar happens in the Mental Health Center Dr. Ameghino, where most professionals work "pro bono" (13) and there is one professional who is "rented". This health center only articulates actions with the Secretariat for the Prevention of Drug Abuse and Drug Trafficking (SEDRONAR, for its acronym in Spanish), but doesn’t work with the Ministry of Health and Social Development of the City, although these two units are responsible for applying the "integral law of addictions."
The situations mentioned above were some of the cases found by the Buenos Aires Audit in the effectors of the Health Region number 1. As for number 2, it was noted that "the detoxification unit has yet to be created" in the Acute General Hospital Piñero and patients instead of being "interned, they were sent to the Fernández Hospital." The Teodoro Alvarez has "one office and therefore outpatient surgeries are performed in donated rooms in which other specialties are performed or even in waiting room", they also lack inpatient beds.
In Region number 3, General Hospital Acute Tornú directly derives all "consumers of substances" without going through the addictions admission. The report adds that there is "no tracking of referrals."
The Fernandez Hospital of Health Region number 4, received in 2010 a little more than 5,000 patients, including those who were referred to detox from different public health centers. About this effector, the audit said "they do not have enough physical space" and that it is "dysfunctional for the amount of people who they care for." Even the report argues that "the beds are insufficient" Finally, the audit mentioned the case of center number 1, Mental Health Dr. Hugo Rosarios where "patients are taken care of in the trauma unit" because of a lack of rooms, "there is a lack of security guards, shortfalls of formal designation for 90% of the staff, and some personnel have been interns for 15 years."