The UGT hospital workers union has warned that the effects of the current heatwave are causing problems in hospitals across the province, singling out the General Hospital of Alicante where many patients are being treated from corridors.
Already an additional 30 single rooms have been reopened and the Pharmacy Service in Elche warns of shortages of chronic medication due to high temperatures
It is mainly the older people that are suffering especially those who might be suffering from any previous pathology, such as respiratory or circulatory diseases.
At one time on Thursday the hospital had as many as 23 patients lying in corridors, an increase of 7 from the previous day and on Friday the situation forced managers to reopen almost thirty of the hundred beds that, like last summer, are closed during the summer months as a result of staff holidays.
However the Department of Health is playing down the problems saying “It is true that on Thursday 416 patients attended the General Hospital of Alicante, but it is not exceptional and indeed not much higher than many other days.”
However, staff contacted by the Spanish press, and who prefer to remain anonymous, say that winter flu peaks at about 350 daily patients while on Thursday the Alicante General exceeded 400.
The relatives of the elderly man who spent Wednesday night lying on an old beds in a corridor with oxygen do not share the management’s dismissal of any overcrowding.
The Emergency rooms in Elche have also been overrun although the Vinalopó Hospital said that they consider the situation about normal “for these dates”
