Hospital do Campo Limpo has been without MRI for 10 months – 05/16/2023 – Health

Unable to work for nearly a decade due to back problems, Rosemary da Silva, 56, dreams of at least returning to walking properly. For this, she needs a surgical intervention, which she cannot do, according to her, due to the lack of an MRI exam. At the Campo Limpo Municipal Hospital, in the south of São Paulo, where she entered the queue for the procedure, the device has been broken at least since August last year.

The municipal unit, which serves 670,000 people in the region, is the main reference for cases of trauma caused, among others, by traffic, domestic and work accidents. When the device was in operation, about a thousand resonances were performed per month in Campo Limpo, according to an estimate by the hospital’s management council, which was not confirmed by the city hall.

Silva says he has been trying for almost a year to schedule the exam requested by the orthopedist. “They say they can’t make an appointment because the device is broken,” said the patient, who lives in the area and worked as a cleaner. Because of her spine, she said she had suffered a fall on the street, on the last day 2 – her leg is bandaged.

In September of last year, the Municipal Secretary of Health told the Sheet who would make an assessment to find out if the machine would have to be repaired or if it would be necessary to change the equipment. Now, the portfolio says that it is in the process of leasing an MRI machine for Campo Limpo. Management Ricardo Nunes (MDB), however, does not provide a forecast of when it will be installed.

Councilor Anderson Dimas Pereira Lopes says that in the almost ten months without MRI scans at the hospital, he was informed several times that the city hall was going to buy a new device — even the use of parliamentary funds was considered.

Earlier this year, representatives of the Municipal Health Secretariat said in a meeting with the management council that the equipment would be purchased with resources from Coapes (Organizational Contract for Public Action for Health Education) —a program that provides guidelines for internships in the health area, as stated in a document dated March 30.

Last week, however, the direction of the public hospital explained, in a meeting with the directors, that the device will be rented. “But they haven’t told us when that will happen, as setting up an MRI is not simple,” stated Lopes.

The secretariat did not inform the rental value of the device or for how long the lease contract will be.

In a note, the folder said that there are minutes for the purchase of four magnetic resonance machines in the bidding phase. Questioned, the secretary did not answer for which units the equipment will be purchased.

Because of the broken device in Campo Limpo, the city hall says that the MRI exams of patients in the region are being carried out in the municipal hospitals Josanias Castanha Braga (Parelheiros) and Gilson de Cássia Marques de Carvalho (Santa Catarina), both in the south zone.

For scheduled outpatient procedures, the folder says it has the service of another 20 contracted clinics to meet the demands of patients.

In the case of the patient Rosemary da Silva, one day after the report questioned about waiting for an appointment, an MRI scan was scheduled for the next 27th, at Hospital Dia M’Boi Mirim.

closed doors

In September last year, the sudden closure of the emergency room at the Hospital Municipal do Campo Limpo to provide care to the general population surprised patients.

With the change, only those who arrive in ambulances are seen at the public hospital — at the time a chain was placed at the entrance, which is lowered by a security guard when the rescue vehicle approaches. The other patients were referred to the UPA (Emergency Care Unit) next door.