A medical specialist wearing protective gear sitting next to two nurses inside the new immediate response mobile hospital in Pachuca
(Photo: Reuters)

Without the ambulances and the on-call medical assistance, most of the systems have lost their revenue. So that these hospitals remain fully functional during the pandemic, they have furloughed staff to cut costs.

Meanwhile, in southern New Mexico, hospitals have done the same in an effort to sustain most expenses with the fallout. Two patients at Artesia General Hospital died mid-March, both of whom were positive for COVID-19.

Furloughed Staff in New Mexico

Particularly, Mountain View Regional Medical Center and Group said in a statement that they furloughed over 1,500 health workers, 67 from the hospital, and 1,500 from the group. This was done where the health services were cut to compromise for available resources. 

The remaining staff, the likes of the officers in the hospital, are to accept salary reduction by 10 percent. Furloughed staff began their leave on April 8, while some on April 10.

The hospital is said to be somewhat in an experimental stage in its operations, where schedules are changed continuously, and staff is reassigned to other departments.

On the other hand, the Memorial Medical Center has announced laying off 125 of its medical staff, where most of the layoffs are of employees from nearly all departments. The Las Cruces Sun-News adds in the report that this temporary leave is set to last for 60 days.

A member of the medical team in the MMC explained that while the hospital is open for some forms of emergencies and procedures, it has seen the reduction of staff. During the pandemic, the volume of patients has decreased, which deducts inconveniences for their part. The representative adds that "when there are fewer patients, less staff are needed."

Last March 27, New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham banned specific regular medical procedures from saving PPEs. According to MMC, they anticipated the need for the preservation of medical gear. They so started postponing and rescheduling appointments that involved the procedures as early as almost two weeks before.

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Healthcare Loses 43,000 Jobs in the U.S.

Based on the report by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in healthcare declined by 43,000, with job losses in offices of dentists, physicians, and other health care practitioners. 

This is a stark contrast when compared with the data from one year prior, where it has grown by 374,000. The job report shows how the pandemic has created a crisis on the economic downturn.

Due to the costs of COVID-19 care, hospital finances are at an all-time high. Much like any other businesses that provide services, healthcare workers are also profoundly affected by the pandemic financially at a tremendous scale that has not been observed since the 1990s.

However, once the crisis has resolved, which will likely require a few more months, there is a very high likelihood of a surge in the demand for healthcare workers.