At least 149 doctors, nurses and other health workers in Mexico have died of the coronavirus
The emergency room doctor shielded his wife and son from his growing unease about a lack of safety gear at the public hospital where he regularly treated coronavirus patients. He focused on caring for the sick while insulating his family, following a strict regimen for cleanliness at home — leaving shoes outside the house, diligently bathing and washing clothes, disinfecting the car and sleeping alone in a spare bedroom.
“My husband was dedicated to doing all he could to save his patients,” Patricia Bravo said recently by telephone. “He would start talking about how there wasn’t enough protective material, but when he saw the look of concern on my face he would change the subject.... He was always worried about us.”Advertisement Dr. Daniel Leglisse, an emergency room physician in Mexico City who died from Covid-19 related illness on April 16. He was 47. Dr. Leglisse, his wife , Patricia Bravo, 47, and the couple’s son, Daniel de Jesus, 17. Later, his wife and son would learn more about the extent of Leglisse’s on-the-job exposure, and the significance of his efforts to protect them.among at least 149 healthcare professionals in Mexico who have succumbed to the virus, according to the country’s health ministry. The casualty numbers among medical personnel — they account for more than 1 in 5 of all confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country — are at the core of a controversy about whether Mexico is doing enough to protect front-line caregivers facing great risks of exposure. Healthcare workers in many nations, including the United States, have cited a lack of adequate protective equipment. But protests from health personnel have occurred at hospitals across Mexico and have persisted even as authorities say sufficient safety gear is available.Overall, Mexico reported more than 74,500 confirmed cases of coronavirus and more than 8,100 deaths as of Tuesday. The United States had more than any country, with more than 1.6 million cases and in excess of 98,900 deaths. More than 11,000 Mexican healthcare workers have been confirmed as infected with the coronavirus, according to government statistics. An additional 8,275 cases among Mexican health workers were labeled “suspicious,” awaiting results from laboratory testing. Doctors account for more than half of the coronavirus-related deaths among health personnel in Mexico, about 55%, while nurses represent 17%. The remaining 28% includes ambulance workers, maintenance staff, lab technicians and others. The contagion has battered healthcare workers in many countries, including the United States, where thehealth personnel as of Tuesday, including 291 deaths, though the CDC acknowledges an undercount.There is no nation-by-nation breakdown of health professionals stricken by COVID-19, making it difficult to assess whether Mexican caregivers are faring worse or better than counterparts elsewhere. In Mexico, there is a disconnect between healthcare workers’ persistent complaints about a lack of safety equipment and government assurances that all is well. Since the first coronavirus case was recorded in Mexico in late February, doctors, nurses and others have regularly taken to the streets to protest a lack of sanitary gear., exacerbating an ongoing shortage of medical personnel as many hospitals are inundated by new coronavirus patients. On Monday, medical staff protested outside the capital’s prestigious National Institute of Respiratory Illnesses. Nurses said they were being forced to reuse masks and gowns rather than being provided with new ones on a daily basis, as experts recommend.“I don’t want to be contaminated!” the protesters chanted, asserting that the equipment-recycling mandate belied their official designation as “heroes” by“Medical personnel who die are not heroes — they are the victims of a disgraceful health system!” read a banner hoisted by one nurse. “Don’t hide reality.”of two staffers — Dr. Rodolfo Jiménez Sosa and Patricia Hernández Gúzman, a nurseDr. Hugo López-Gatell, the undersecretary of health who heads the country’s coronavirus response, dismissed the complaints as “disinformation or information not completely connected to reality.” He denied that masks were being recycled.Leglisse died at the General Hospital in Mexico’s City’s Tacuba district, the institution where he had worked for 13 years. It is part of the giant State Employees’ Social Security and Social Services Institute, known as ISSSTE, which servesThree days after Leglisse’s passing, Olga Blandina, a popular nurse at the same hospital, died of complications from COVID-19. The two fatalities — along with the earlier death of a staff pediatrician — detonated long-simmering indignation. “Health personnel are at war without arms,” read a placard hoisted by a nurse during a protest outside the hospital.In response, management denied any equipment deficit. The hospital director, Juan Carlos García, said that Blandina had no contact with COVID-19 patients, suffered from hypertension and may have contracted coronavirus “from people who traveled to Europe.”“A tireless lion, always optimistic, with much magic in your heart,” wrote one mourner on Facebook about Blandina. “All the PAIN I feel about your DEATH is transformed into anger ... how to protect yourself if they don’t give you adequate equipment.” In recent weeks, Mexican authorities have hailed the arrival of more than a dozen jumbo jets ferrying tons of supplies from China. But practitioners call much of the gear unusable — wobbly face shields, flimsy gowns and boot covers, and slender masks providing minimal protection. Many workers purchase their own equipment online or from local distributors. “They can bring in hundreds of face masks, but if they are of bad quality, they’re useless,” said Bravo, Leglisse’s widow, a pediatrician in private practice. “It’s incredible that people have to go out and pay [for equipment] just to protect themselves.”
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