LETTER FROM MEXICO
When night falls on Mexico City, nurses and doctors are not entitled to applause. Buses, chartered by the mary, await them to protect them from attacks in the midst of a pandemic.
In front of the General Hospital, planted near the center of the megalopolis, two police patrols are watching. An armed, helmeted guard filters the entrances. Right next to it, a nurse in her forties, wearing a surgical mask, puts her blouse in the bottom of her bag. “The ministry's instruction is not to go out on the street in work clothes. It's crazy to be forced to hide. I’ve never seen that in twenty years of career! "
For the past month, thirty-five doctors and nurses have filed complaints of assault with the Mexican Council against Discrimination (Conapred). Evidence has also poured in on the web since the government launched the health alert on March 30.
The next day, a hundred inhabitants of the small town of Axochiapan (state of Morelos, center) threatened to burn down a hospital intended to accommodate patients of Covid-19 from other regions. The story of Daniel Lopez Regalado also ignited social networks: this civil servant from the state of Oaxaca (southwest) spat on nurses when he learned that he was diagnosed with Covid-19. He was fired…
Deep fear
Attacks are increasing against white coats in public transport. A nurse from Mexico City recounts in an anonymous video that a minibus driver refused to let her get on: "He said no. I went up anyway. He asked me if I had washed my hands. I was surprised. At that time, I sneezed. People looked at me, even more panicked. All because I was dressed as a nurse … "
For Paulina Solorio, in the western state of Tabasco, the attack was not only verbal: the young nurse testified on her Facebook account when an individual just threw chlorine at her outfit. On the Web, we discover that a colleague, Sandra Aleman, had a broken finger in San Luis Potosi (center) after an argument with a mother who accused her of"Have the Covid". Not to mention these messages from neighbors urging white coats not to use the common areas of their building.
"It is alarming that people are channeling their fears and anger at the staff who protect them", lamented the Deputy Minister of Health, Hugo Lopez-Gatell. This renowned epidemiologist is the head and spokesman for the government's strategy against Covid-19 – in the country, 11,633 cases and 1,069 deaths were confirmed Thursday, April 23. Experts say the pandemic is waking up in some people the deep fear of an invisible enemy.
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