On Monday (10th), the first day of COP30, employees of the Mario Pinotti Emergency Room, the largest in Belém, suspended their activities in protest against the City Hall’s decision to close the unit’s services and temporarily relocate them to another location.
The unit, a reference for urgent and highly complex emergencies, is the only unit in the state operating on an open-door basis. This means anyone can receive emergency treatment without the need for a prior referral from another medical service.
The ostensible justification is to carry out structural reforms of the military, which is in a precarious situation.
A report by the Regional Medical Council of Pará states that since April this year, serum and bandages have served as weights on the doors, as the structure is too dilapidated to close. The furniture was torn and rusty, and there were leaks in several places. According to CRM, this condition represents a risk for patients and healthcare professionals.
But employees see the closure as a step toward possible privatization of the emergency room.
For experts, a ban without a clear contingency plan could collapse the municipality’s already overburdened medical network. There are also concerns about the end of the open door system.
According to the city health department, emergency medical services will be temporarily transferred to a private hospital during the construction period. After the renovation, City Hall announced that the hospital would continue to operate along with private wards, doubling the number of hospital beds in the city.
Demonstrators, dressed in black, carried the coffin to the building’s entrance as a sign of remembrance. They also partially closed major streets as a form of pressure and visibility.
The Federal Public Ministry warned last month that Belém’s public health system was in a critical state and at risk of collapsing when expected COP30 participants arrived.
In response, Health Minister Alexandre Pasilla announced the opening of a new emergency room at Beneficiento Portuguesa Hospital, which will be operated through SUS. He also said that both the WHO and the United Nations have given 10 points to the regime established not only for COP30 but also for the SUS in the city of Belem.
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