ASSE patients and staff decry multi-hour waits in emergency rooms

Emergency rooms at Uruguay's public hospitals Pasteur, Maciel, and Cerro are overwhelmed, with patients and staff reporting waits of several hours for treatment. Users of the State Health Services Administration (ASSE) told El País they face prolonged delays, a situation acknowledged by hospital employees.

While increased demand is expected in winter, leading to an activation of an extra resources plan, patients and staff describe waits of four, six, or even more hours before being seen. This does not include the time spent within the emergency department for actual treatment. El País observed crowded conditions at the three hospitals on multiple days and times, with ambulances also waiting to offload patients.

ASSE responded to repeated reports of delays by stating that at one of the three hospitals (unspecified), there were no ambulances waiting outside and no emergency delays, without offering further details. At the hospital entrances, a diverse mix of people, young, old, homeless, drug users, and gunshot victims, wait for their turn. Many wait outdoors due to a lack of seating inside, enduring stale air even with doors open. Some individuals, identified as homeless, sleep sitting up and receive food and clothing, according to users and workers.

The prolonged waits often lead to anger directed at staff, sometimes requiring police intervention. Some centers, like Cerro, have "violence interrupters" to manage potential outbursts. Critics of ASSE often frame these delays as a consequence of "public and free healthcare." Others note that such delays are not exclusive to public providers and also occur in some private mutualist health organizations. A sign at the Cerro emergency room outlines five priority levels, with maximum wait times ranging from 30 minutes to five hours for non-urgent cases, but users and staff say these times are frequently exceeded. The Cerro facility, one of ASSE's busiest, has a smaller waiting area compared to Maciel and Pasteur. Many patients choose Cerro despite the wait, as they anticipate similar delays elsewhere or cannot afford transportation to other centers.

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If they don't see you suffering, dying, they don't attend to you.