Mexican healthcare workers who continue to serve different hospitals treating COVID-19 patients were reportedly assaulted and attacked says a recently published article.


Mexican Healthcare Workers Have Been Assaulted and Accused of Spreading the Virus

Healthcare workers who have been kept busy in different hospitals night and day to treat COVID-19 patients were accused of spreading the virus. Despite their act of compassion, doctors and nurses were barred from their own homes due to the fear of spreading COVID-19. 

Dr. Alondra Jovanna Torres, who was walking home after a full morning of hospital consultations, was brutally attacked by a stranger who spilled some liquid onto her face. In just a few seconds, her vision went cloudy and she smelled bleach.

"They picked me out because I was wearing scrubs," she said. "I didn't see anything--I don't know who it was, but I know they attacked another doctor on the same day."

Torres specializes in ear, nose, and throat and presently works in Guadalajara, Mexico. And like most healthcare workers in the world today, she has been one of the frontliners attending to COVID-19 patients. However, unlike in other parts of the world, healthcare workers in Mexico seem to be treated differently instead of being admired.


Dr. Torres is Not Alone

The attack left Torres with conjunctivitis and burns on her skin. It was found that it was not the only attack made against healthcare workers on that day. Another doctor was also attacked using the same bleach in the same area on the same day. 

Not only that, but many doctors and nurses were also similarly barred from their homes, denied services from restaurants and supermarkets. There were also reports saying that they were asked to get out of the buses and other modes of transportation.  The worst is that they were attacked in the streets.

One nurse shared her experience on Facebook after she was attacked by a woman along with her two children as she left the coffee shop on her way back to the hospital. She wrote: "She hit me in the face, and I had no choice but to defend myself. We ended up on the pavement, me trying to defend myself because I was proudly wearing my white uniform. I fractured two fingers on my right hand."

There was one nurse also who attended to a suspected COVID-19 patient in the hospital but then was blocked by the neighbors as she went home. She was only able to enter the neighborhood and get some of her clothes while escorted by policemen. She is now staying in the hospital where she works along with other medical healthcare workers who were denied entry in their villages.

She said: "It was really painful. I was scared for my safety, and I even ended up wondering if I really was spreading the virus. Now I'm staying with colleagues from the hospital because I have nowhere else to go. It's not fair."


Alarming Number of Medical Workers Attacked Across the Country

Fabiana Zepeda, head of nursing for the Mexican Social Security Institute, said that 21 medical healthcare workers have been reported attacked across the 12 states in the country. 

This forced many doctors and nurses to change their clothes when traveling to and from the hospital due to the fear of being attacked. 

Zepeda said: "I have worn my nurse's uniform for 27 years with great pride--as do doctors. But today we are taking off our uniforms because we don't want to be injured."

Zepeda is calling all Mexicans to always remember the sacrifices of medical healthcare instead of attacking them. At present, around 150 medical healthcare workers tested positive for the virus and six of them have died. 

She added: "We beg those people who have attacked doctors and nurses to reconsider. We could end up saving your lives."


COVID-19 Cases in Mexico 

At present, the number of COVID-19 cases in the country has reached nearly 12,000 and more than 1000 deaths. However, health officials admit that the real number of cases could be eight times higher as the testing capacity of the country is only limited.

Hugo Lopez-Gatell, Mexico's health undersecretary, warned that a large number of infections and hospitalizations are about to happen.


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