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ARCHIVED - Alicante health workers win compensation claim over lack of Covid protection
An Alicante court has ruled a lack of PPE posed a "serious risk to the health and safety" of staff
The Valencia region's Ministry of Health has been ordered to compensate doctors and health workers in Alicante for not providing them with sufficient protection against Covid during the first wave of the pandemic, the first ruling of its kind in Spain.
Depending on the risk level medical staff were exposed to, compensation of between 5,000 and 49,180 euros must be awarded to 150 plaintiffs following an order made by the Social Court number 5 of Alicante on Friday January 7.
The judge ruled in favour of the Medical Union of the Valencian Community (CESM) which argued that the Regional Ministry of Health has an "obligation" to "adopt measures and means of protection, both collective and individual", and that between March 14 and May 2020, "put the health and safety of health workers at risk by not providing them with sufficient measures and means of protection":
During a briefing, the judge stated that during these three months, health staff at medical centres in Alicante "only had one mask per week to carry out their duties", including "the care of patients infected by coronavirus".
He added that "the masks that were available were kept under lock and key by those in charge" of each centre, which meant staff "were forced to reuse disposable gowns" that "were sent for sterilisation to be re-worn".
Furthermore, the court found that the health department "did not provide them with medical caps, as it was considered that they were not necessary, nor did it provide them with screens".
It was only from June 2020, with the first contained wave, that greater supplies of PPE were made available.
The court decision, which is not final and will be appealed by the Ministry, declares that medical staff "have the right to be compensated for personal and moral damages by the Regional Ministry of Health of the Generalitat Valenciana", and ordered the department to pay 5,000 euros each to employees who were forced to work without adequate PPE and 15,000 euros to those who had to isolate due to contact with Covid patients.
Staff who were infected but did not need to be admitted to hospital must be compensated 35,000 euros, and those who were hospitalised after infection should receive 49,180 euros.
In addition, the judge stipulated that the Ministry must "provide staff with protective equipment consisting of at least hydroalcoholic solutions, waterproof gowns, FPP2 and FPP3 masks, protective goggles, specific footwear, gloves and large waste containers".
CESM, the medical union behind the lawsuit, has welcomed the decision which it said "recognises that the regional ministry was negligent and did not provide the means of prevention" to doctors and other healthcare staff, "which is why many ended up infected".
In fact, the region's three provinces, Alicante Valencia and Castellon, "broke the record for the number of infections amongst health workers in Europe", according to the union's regional secretary general, Víctor Pedrera.
This is the first of five lawsuits in the region, with others presented in Benidorm, Elche, Valencia and Castellon. There are almost 1,000 claimants in total and if all are ruled in favour, the health department could face compensation payouts of around 25 million euros.
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