100+ Spain’s Costa del Sol nurses lodge complaint against hospital emergency department for not following strict Covid-19 protocols

OVER 100 nurses at Hospital Clínico de Málaga have lodged an official complaint against the emergency department’s management, for not following strict (coronavirus) Covid-19 protocols, which has “put staff and patients attending emergency at risk of the disease.”

According to the complaint, after an attempted theft of face masks (for which there is an ongoing investigation) it has been difficult to access protective material as it is locked away and heavily controlled. The nurses accuse the department’s management of “unjustifiable delays” in getting access to materials needed to protect them from suspected Covid-19 cases because they were “repeatedly denied access to it.”

They also highlighted that teams, comprising a nurse and two auxiliary staff, were being overwhelmed with too many patients requiring isolation because the emergency department wasn’t applying the correct measures to suspected Covid-19 cases.

Cleaners and wardens are also said to have issued management with similar complaints. The hospital, however, has assured that “it is complying with all the protocols” issued by the Ministry of Health. “We are following all measures regarding isolation, security, as well as protective equipment,” stated a hospital spokesperson.