The government of the State of São Paulo made official this Friday (19-06), the opening of 20 Intensive Care beds at the Hospital de Clínicas da Unicamp, for the exclusive treatment of COVID-19 patients. The resources come from the Ministry of Health and cover the cost of the new area for three months. Doctors, nursing professionals and physiotherapists were hired. Contracts are temporary and valid for 90 days.
This week, state services located in the city now have 81 Intensive Care beds, an increase of 69% in installed capacity. The other nine beds are at the AME Ambulatory Medical Specialties (AME) in Campinas, which will have 35 ICU beds exclusively for coronavirus cases by next week.
According to the HC superintendent, Antonio Gonçalves de Oliveira Filho, the biggest difficulty in this expansion has been hiring health professionals, especially doctors, for temporary emergency contracts. In its first days of operation, the new ICU wing is 50% occupied. The new beds increase the capacity of the Unicamp HC from 26 to 46 COVID ICU beds.
For the Secretary of State for Health, José Henrique Germann, this is an important achievement for the Campinas region, as the HC serves the entire RMC. “We are committed to expanding the supply of beds, especially in the ICU, to combat the coronavirus, as well as ensuring, as a priority, the delivery of equipment such as respirators, monitors and beds to hospitals with the greatest need to free up ICU beds”, he explains.
This measure is in addition to those already implemented in the outpatient clinic. “AME Campinas was adapted for clinical care and hospitalizations to reinforce the regional structure for caring for COVID-19 cases”, explains the Secretary. After the pandemic, AME should resume its outpatient profile.
