The crisis in the regional health service continues as 25 “non urgent” operations have been cancelled in three days because the Intensive Care Unit at the Hospital Virgin de la Arrixaca in Murcia is full.
Because it is the principal hospital in the region the Arrixaca must take in critical patients every day from other hospitals such as Reina Sofía and Morales Meseguer.
“Yesterday five patients arrived from other centres and we had no choice but to admit them,” explained a spokesperson for the hospital.
The Arrixaca hospital has been the worst affected this year, in part due to an Emergency Department which is too small to adequately serve the community. But the Morales Meseguer has also been inundated, and four operations were cancelled on Tuesday, as is the Reina Sofía. At the Santa Lucía in Cartagena patients and professionals have been protesting about beds in corridors and long waiting times.. Sleep studies have been suspended at the hospital and the area is being used to accomodate tests on patients from Emergencies.
