Spain is first in the
world in the number of organ donations and cloistered convents. However, Spain also leads the world in the number of healthcare workers infected with
coronavirus. At the end of April, 20% of all active Covid-19 cases in Spain
were among hospital workers.
No other country, not
even Italy, has such a high percentage. Thirty-seven of these workers died. They
were not only doctors and nurses, but also kitchen and cleaning staff as well
as nursing aides and medical technicians. They were not in the vulnerable age
group and had no previous pathologies.
People in other
countries might think that these healthcare workers became infected because
they did not follow protocols. Perhaps they were in a rush and forgot to wash
their hands or did not bother to wear a face mask. It is a shame that such
things happen but they should have been more careful. Every job has its risks.
That is what some people
might say….. people whose lives have not been affected by the pandemic. But
they would be wrong.
Here in Spain, we know
the truth. Our healthcare workers were not at fault. They were sent off to war
without any weapons to fight the enemy. They were like the Russian peasants
conscripted into the Tsar’s army in World War I, who were expected to fight the
German army without any ammunition in the Battle of Tannenberg in 1916.
Like
Tsar Nicolas II, the Spanish government had an unrealistic idea about its military
capability and talent to successfully wage a full-scale war. Like the Russian
tsar, President Pedro Sánchez also had various Rasputins whispering into his ear
as he made his decisions.
We all know what
eventually happened to Tsar Nicolas II, who was forced to abdicate in 1917. Fortunately,
this won’t occur in Spain; no one is interested in revolution. However, now
that hospitals are gradually returning to normal, a gentler rebellion of
stethoscopes and scalpels is certainly brewing.
Spanish doctors and
nurses lacked the protective equipment needed to treat patients safely in
crowded hospitals. This is documented in images of them and their colleagues
wearing disposable raincoats, garbage bags, and other improvised materials that
they were forced to use because nothing else was available.
One after another,
they fell ill with Covid-19 and had to be sent home while coronavirus patients
were comatosely sleeping in plastic chairs in the corridors of the emergency
room.
At the hospital where
my oldest son works, there came a time when over half the intensive care
doctors had become casualties to enemy bullets. He was told to put his
psychiatric patients on hold (no one ever dies of craziness, so they said) and
to work in intensive care because they needed doctors there.
He was given two days
to memorize treatments and protocols before entering battle. And he did. It is
fortunate that he has a sharp learning curve and that he did not kill anybody
as he learned on the job. He was able to make some of the dying feel less
lonely, and he may even have saved some lives.
On his 12-hour shifts,
he did not have adequate protective equipment. The little that there was had to
be reused. The few suits and masks that arrived from China were defective and
looked as though they had been bought at a Shanghai Dollar Store.
Despite constant
exposure to the virus, it was a small miracle that he never fell ill. Everyone
was persuaded that he must have had the virus without knowing it in the weeks
previous to the pandemic.
After finally being
tested last week, he discovered that he had never had the coronavirus. Incredibly,
he managed to dodge the Covid-19 bullets. No one exactly knows how. His
guardian angel must have been working overtime.
This weekend he was
able to see his children again for the first time in three months. He said that
it was the same as when he finally returned home from being deployed in Iraq.
He was not alone. Many other
doctors and nurses also made the decision to live separately in order not to
endanger their families. Even taking off their clothes in the doorway and going
directly to the shower, they still might have spread the virus to their loved
ones. They did not wish to take that chance, and instead opted for a solitary monastic
life while the pandemic was raging.
The salaries of doctors
and nurses in Spain are less than half the salary of a Spanish politician, and
only a fraction of what doctors earn in the USA. No one will ever get rich
working for the Spanish National Health Service. That is one of the problems of
socialized medicine (at least for doctors).
But then again no one
will ever go bankrupt or have their health insurance premiums exorbitantly increased
because they have fallen ill with Covid-19 and have had to spend 40 days in
intensive care. That is one of the advantages of socialized medicine (for the
general population).
Healthcare workers in
Spain would, of course, like to earn more. Who wouldn’t? However, their current
complaint is not about money, but rather about their work conditions during the
pandemic and the risks that they were exposed to because the government was
playing its collective fiddle while the crematoriums were working overtime.
Now that the dust has
settled, the Spanish government is up to its ears in litigation. Recently, labor
unions representing health workers have filed a series of lawsuits against the
government across Spain’s regions and in the Supreme Court, in an attempt to
force authorities to improve the provision of hospital equipment.
It is a fact that on 10
March, the Government approved a legal reform to allow the Health Department to
centralize the purchase of equipment in the face of the shortage that was
occurring on the world market. The Health Department undertook the massive
purchase of equipment, for which it had to pay an exorbitant price.
In many
cases, the material acquired by the ministry and regional governments was late
in arriving, and when it finally did arrive, much of it was defective and had
to be returned. Someone should be held responsible for the mess.
There are also various
wrongful death suits. Healthcare workers and their families are suing because
it is not enjoyable to be used as cannon fodder. Being called “heroes” and
“warriors” does not sweeten the pill.
Essential healthcare workers naturally volunteer
to step up to the plate because that is their job description. However, it would
be good to have an even chance of survival. Because of the government’s
incompetence, the odds were stacked against them.
Now government
authorities are scrambling to justify their actions. After a great deal of
hemming and hawing, the government’s emergency health chief has grudgingly admitted
that the shortage of equipment may have fueled a high rate of infection among
medical professionals. However, this admission is not quite enough.
There may or may not be
a second wave of the virus. No one can really know. It is now a question of
getting things in place so that healthcare workers do not have to go fight on the
frontline again without weapons, ammunition, or adequate protection.
