- So far only one person has been reported to have died in Colima.
After an earthquake it is necessary to identify damage to the infrastructure of your property such as possible gas leaks or cracks. - During such an incident, hospitals have an obligation to maintain their service.
- Due to its geographical position, Mexico is one of the countries where the most earthquakes occur.
The work performed by surgeons is of great relevance and that is why so many years of study are needed. At the same time, within your activity there is no time to rest or postpone interventions. Not even a natural disaster like an earthquake can cause a surgery to be abandoned.
All of this is brought up by what happened to a group of specialists from the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS) who acted with courage and professionalism during the magnitude 7.7 earthquake on September 19, and remained at the head of a surgery that demanded a high degree of precision and care for a five-month-old pediatric patient.
Regardless of the intensity of the tremor, the Social Security doctors assigned to the High Specialty Medical Unit (UMAE) Hospital de Pediatría “Dr. Silvestre Frenk Freund”, from the Centro Médico Nacional Siglo XXI, continued to successfully complete the surgery of the small patient diagnosed with craniosynostosis, that is, the premature fusion of the skull structures.
“The hospital is safe and during the earthquake the emergency protocols were activated, such as the two power plants, which came in immediately when the electricity failed,” explained Dr. Miguel Ángel Serret Fernández, Neurosurgeon of the Pediatric Neurosurgery Service of this UMAE.
Specialists of #IMSS act courageously and heroically by continuing a complex surgery during #earthquake of 7.7 degrees.
🏥 https://t.co/HGjeJXKXw6 pic.twitter.com/bxfeW3RjRU
— IMSS (@Your_IMSS) September 22, 2022
For his part, Dr. Fernando Soriano Padilla, head of Maxillofacial Surgery at UMAE, stressed that during the seismic event there were seven health professionals in the operating room, including anesthesiologists, surgeons and nursing staff, who put their professionalism and patient integrity.
“We have family, parents, children, but also that son, whose parents are away, so the great commitment we have as doctors to the patient and that makes us put our family and everything in favor of our patients.”
For his part, the father of the minor, Mr. Christian, thanked the professionalism of the hospital staff, because despite the earthquake, the activity of a highly specialized hospital was not interrupted.
“They are warriors, superheroes for maintaining that patience and that calm,” the father mentioned after acknowledging the work of the IMSS in activating the security protocols during a natural catastrophe to carry out the daily work of the Hospital.
Also read:
These are the only IMSS units with damage from a magnitude 7.7 earthquake
What to do after an earthquake: Check for cracks and emergency calls
How to protect your medical office against future earthquakes