However, the diagnosis was issued 11 days later and the staff was later notified, according to the testimony of three workers who asked to omit their name for fear of reprisals.
“We did not know that diagnosis. The patient came out of surgery, all very well, the material was washed, the instrumental. Days later, the infectologist, the epidemiologist, the head of residents, and said that this patient was infected with prions,” said a worker.
The delay in disseminating the information prevented the protection protection measures from infectious diseases immediately.
The managers of the Institute ordered to sterilize all the surgical instruments and suspended the surgeries during a full weekend. But workers point out that with that it is not enough, because prions are so difficult to destroy that it is recommended to melt the material.
“All kinds of surgeries were suspended, they asked for sodium hydroxide, they asked for sodium hypochlorite to be able to disinfect. But this can no longer be because it was several days later. All the material was circulating in the surgeries, which could have been stopped at that time,” says another worker.
They have proposed to discard the instruments, although this has not been approved by the directive, because the incident occurs while the institute faces budget cuts and shortage of medicines and other supplies.
This 2025, the hospital was approved a public spending with 236 million pesos less than the previous year.
Currently, attention is different due to lack of supplies, lack of material, lack of personnel. ”
Nurse of the National Institute of Neurology.
A week ago, the workers placed blankets on a bridge on Insurgentes Sur Avenue, outside the hospital, to request support from President Claudia Sheinbaum.
“In this National Institute of Neurology and Neurosurgery Personal Missing, Missing Material, Missing team and the authorities say there is no budget for substitutions,” they noted in the label.
They also accuse that the information about the case has reached them, as it happened in the midst of the election of the new head of the institute. The current director, Ángel Arauz, ran for a second period.
To date, they do not know exactly how many workers are considered at risk or the actions that the authorities will implement for their care, so they request that medical monitoring be guaranteed, with laboratory studies and frequent monitoring, of all exposed.
“We, who are in contact with this type of patients, ask for support for the authorities of the Ministry of Health to enter and ask for a protocol, because we do not have it,” said a worker.
