Spanish soldiers deployed to help fight the new
coronavirus outbreak have found elderly patients abandoned, and sometimes dead,
at retirement homes, as an ice rink inside a Madrid shopping mall was turned
into a temporary morgue to cope with a surge in cases.
 |
| Employees of a mortuary enter the crematorium of La Almudena cemetery with a coffin of a person who died of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) during partial lockdown to combat the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Madrid, Spain, March 23, 2020. |
The army has been charged with helping to disinfect
retirement homes in Spain, one of
the countries worst hit by the pandemic. Dozens of deaths from COVID-19 have been
recorded at facilities across the country.
"We are going to be strict and inflexible when dealing
with the way old people are treated in these residences," Defence Minister
Margarita Robles said in an interview with private television channel
Telecinco.
"The army, during certain visits, found some old
people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds," she
added.
An investigation has been launched, the general prosecutor
announced.
The coronavirus death toll in Spain surged to 2,182 on
Monday after 462 people died within 24 hours, according to health ministry
figures.
Meanwhile, the ice rink at the Palacio de Hielo, or Ice
Palace, shopping centre in Madrid was turned into a temporary morgue to
deal with a surge in deaths in the capital, a spokeswoman for Madrid city hall
told AFP.
Earlier, the city hall said the city's 14 public cemeteries
would stop accepting more bodies because staff there did not have adequate
protective gear.
The improvised morgue would start to be used "in the
coming hours," the regional government of Madrid said.
"This is a temporary and exceptional measure which
aims to mitigate the pain of the family members of the victims and the
situation hospitals in Madrid are facing."
A nearby congress centre has been converted into a field
hospital for coronavirus patients that will have a total of 5,500 beds.
The elderly are especially vulnerable in the global
pandemic and officials around the world are increasingly calling for extreme
measures to safeguard them.
Retirement homes are "an absolute priority for the
government", Health Minister Salvador Illa told a press conference.
"We will exercise the most intensive monitoring of
these centres."
Under coronavirus protocols, health workers have been
instructed to leave bodies in place in suspected COVID-19 deaths until the
arrival of a doctor. But given the upsurge in deaths the delay can be lengthy. - Africa
No comments:
Post a Comment