Unicamp was awarded R$31,57 million for the construction of the future Institute of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, which will be built on the Barão Geraldo campus. The amount is part of the compensation for collective moral damage resulting from a public civil action filed in 2007 by the Public Ministry in the so-called Shell-Basf case. The construction and implementation of the institute will be managed by the Health Area Foundation (Fascamp), the entity proposing the project.
The symbolic delivery of the payment slip with the resources that will be allocated to the construction of the unit was held this Tuesday (3), in the auditorium of the Regional Labor Court of the 15th Region, with the presence of authorities from the Labor Court, Rectory of Unicamp, Faculty of Medical Sciences (FCM), Hospital de Clínicas (HC) and Fascamp, as well as representatives of entities of former workers and family members who were victims of contamination.
The Institute of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery will be built in an area of 5 thousand m² already designated by the Unicamp Rectory, close to the HC and the Rehabilitation Study and Research Center (Cepre). After the resources are released, the executive project will begin, with the work expected to be completed within 24 months. The amount made available to Unicamp will also guarantee the acquisition of equipment.
"This institute will be specialized in high complexity for the areas of otorhinolaryngology and head and neck surgeries. Patients who are treated in specialized medical outpatient clinics (AMEs) go to the intermediate level of treatment, and then have nowhere to refer them. We hope that the Institute is the reference center for AMEs in the State of São Paulo", says Agricio Nubiato Crespo, head of the Department of Otorhinolaryngology at FCM and technical director of the project proposed by Fascamp.
The Institute of Otorhinolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery will cover the municipalities of Regional Health Department VII, which includes the Metropolitan Region of Campinas and the micro-regions of Bragança Paulista and Jundiaí, with a population of more than 4,5 million inhabitants. But the unit's operations may reach patients from other regions of the State of São Paulo and the South of Minas Gerais. The service will be exclusive to users of the Unified Health System (SUS).
Professor Agricio Nubiato Crespo believes that Fascamp's participation will be fundamental to the success of the new institute, as it has freedom of management and operation, being able to carry out other partnerships in the future, in addition to guaranteeing an expansion of health care for the population and expanding the possibilities of scientific training and development. "The institute will be entirely focused on assistance, research, teaching, training of qualified human resources and dissemination of knowledge.”
At the same ceremony, the Boldrini Children's Center was awarded additional funding of R$5 million, which will be used to complete the works and purchase equipment for the center for applied scientific research in cancer, under construction in the district of Barão Geraldo. The institution was represented by doctor Sílvia Regina Brandalise, president of the hospital and retired professor from Unicamp.
The president of the Regional Labor Court of the 15th Region, judge Fernando da Silva Borges, believes that it is important not to forget the reasons that led to the collective compensation in the Shell/Basf case. “These values are the result of suffering, the contamination of the soil and people, the illnesses that this caused to workers and their families, and it is very sad to see this”, he declared at the ceremony. “The best way we have to repair all this damage is by investing in institutions that provide services to the entire society.”
The indemnities and compensations in the Shell/Basf case come from the largest agreement in the history of the Labor Court, signed in 2013 between the companies that managed the industrial pesticide plant in Paulínia, the Public Ministry of Labor and representatives of former employees. Investigations showed that between 1974 and 2002 there was negligence on the part of those responsible for the factory, causing contamination of employees and the soil.
More than a thousand people, including former workers from the companies involved, infected family members and their heirs, were directly compensated by the agreement. Part of the compensation resources for collective moral damages are being allocated to institutions responsible for projects in the area of public health, which are being selected according to their relevance and scope for society.
Projects from Unicamp, the Sumaré State Hospital (managed by Unicamp), the Barretos Cancer Hospital, a hospital boat in the Amazon, the Federal University of Bahia, Fundacentro, the University of São Paulo, among others, have already been included.
