Santiago Carrasco, president of the medical union, stressed that they maintain the position that it is “inopportune” to resume attendance in the classroom.
The president of the Ecuadorian Medical Federation, Santiago Carrasco, rejected this Friday morning the massive requests for PCR tests in institutions in general and considered that given the current positivity record of COVID-19 in Ecuador, which reaches 54% according to the Ministry of Public Health (MSP), the detection of the virus should be done through a clinical diagnosis.
In a joint press conference with leaders of the National Union of Educators (UNE) and other entities linked to the educational field, the president of the medical union stressed that the country should prioritize tests for seriously ill patients at risk of death, apart from that the cost would be difficult for families to cover.
Last week, the Agency for Quality Assurance of Health Services and Prepaid Medicine (Acess) set the price of the RT-PCR test at $45.08, as a ceiling.
Price of PCR tests to detect COVID-19 is $45.08, according to a government entity
“The problem is the cost, it started with $170, then $90 (…), we are saying ‘the State has to guarantee access to these tests’. Let’s make a clinical diagnosis, with basic questions, if that patient comes from a hot zone where the virus is circulating or has been in contact with infected people, then 80% or 90% are likely to have the virus and we avoid paying for a test “, Carrasco argued, and asked to add triage points for this purpose.
In the call via Zoom, the participants rejected the presence in the classrooms. Carrasco maintained that although it is an age group that is not so affected by the virus and is generally asymptomatic, there was evidence in other school-age patients with severe symptoms of COVID-19 variants, in addition to the latent probability of bringing the virus home and infecting family members considered vulnerable. He stressed that the union maintains the position that attendance in classrooms is “inopportune”.
The president of the UNE, Isabel Vargas, considered that there were no guarantees regarding school infrastructure. He assured that there are teachers who have classrooms with 40 students or a deficit of sanitary batteries. He demanded that in the Costa regime the 2021-2022 school period end in the virtual modality due to the accelerated spread of the omicron variant and the record in Guayaquil of 10 deaths daily due to the virus.
He explained that the UNE learned that last week in Guayaquil some 400 teachers would have been infected and that in the rest of the country the figure would be similar. He commented that 90% of teachers have applied two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and that 80% go for the third dose.
He stressed that the State must guarantee classrooms with a maximum of 25 students and even the provision of masks, to alleviate the economic situation of families.
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The president of the Federation of Secondary Students of Ecuador (FESE), Scarlett Tamayo, and the leader of university polytechnic professors, Joselito Ordóñez, asked the Government for a budget for education.
The first pointed out that they are not opposed to attendance in classrooms, but they do demand a postponement at this time until the real peaks of infections are known. The second also stressed that the cost of the PRC test was difficult for families to cover and asked the State to guarantee their access to them.
On Monday the 17th, educational centers are expected to continue with their plans for voluntary face-to-face classes. According to the guidelines of the Ministry of Education, schools that have exceeded 85% of the population vaccinated with the second dose, between student groups and teachers, may have a capacity of 2.5 meters of area per person, with a distance of more 1.5 meters in classrooms. Regarding the national mobilization that social actors convene for Wednesday the 19th, the president of the UNE said that they are betting on a postponement of the demonstration, since “life” comes first. (I)
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