Public Hearing - Caring for a Good Happens in the Legislative Assembly of Bahia

On May 24th, the Public Hearing - Taking care is good, at the Jorge Calmon Journalist Auditorium, at the Bahia State Legislative Assembly. The event was promoted by the Health and Sanitation Commission of the Legislative Assembly, represented by state deputy Alex Piatã, and addressed the theme "Impacts on the health of individuals with HTLV and measures capable of mitigating and equating the suffering of patients", with the participation of nursing students in the Care is Good Extension Program Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública.

The event was attended by members of the board of the HTLVida Association and guests. The table was composed by the state deputy, Alex Piatã, by Dr. Bernardo Galvão de Castro Filho, coordinator of the Integrative and Multidisciplinary HTLV Center, by Adjeane Oliveira, president of the HTLVida Association, by Dr. Rosana Andrade, physiotherapist at the Dr. Edgar Hospital Santos, by the nurse Aidê Nunes da Silva, professor of the Nursing Extension Program Caring for the Good of Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública and by Dr. Gisélia Cristina, member of the technical team of the Health Department of the State of Bahia (SESAB).

During the program, Dr. Bernardo Galvão de Castro Filho addressed the theme "What is HTLV: clinical manifestations, epidemiology in the world, Brazil and Salvador", emphasizing the georeferencing of the capital built by the Integrative and Multidisciplinary Center of HTLV based on the registered and assisted patients, as well as the drug therapy adopted. In his speech, the coordinator of the HTLV Center highlighted the importance of citizens being assisted in their health needs and highlighted the work developed by the  Bahiana, through the HTLV Center, which has been helping these patients, through a multidisciplinary team comprising a neurologist, infectologist, gynecologist, obstetrician, nurses, physiotherapists, psychologist, physical educator, laboratory assistance and support staff, offering care through the Unified System of Health (SUS).

“Salvador has approximately 50 thousand citizens infected by HTLV and these numbers remain neglected by the Ministry of Health”, emphasized Dr. Bernardo Galvão de Castro Filho.

Dr. Rosana Andrade, physiotherapist at Hospital Prof. Edgar Santos also presented a report on disorders that affect the urinary system and Prof. Aidê Nunes da Silva highlighted the importance of the public hearing and the work being carried out by Associação HTLVida, stressing that the Nursing Care Extension Program does Well, it is supposed to develop activities in the entity, awakening Nursing students to the importance of "Caring", assuming that professionals not only have theoretical knowledge, but that they develop the capacity to exercise criticality, in order to assess the scenario of public health policies and their care network. The teacher also paid attention to Art.196 of the 1988 Constitution, which ensures “Health as a Right for All and a Duty of the State”.

“During the nursing consultations carried out by the students of the course and mediated by me, at the HTLV Center, we evidenced the discovery of seropositivity with ruptures in family relationships, the impact on labor activity, pain, disillusionment and, above all, the hope of better days. That, in fact, we have a care network that will add to the Escola Bahiana de Medicina e Saúde Pública which assists citizens with HTLV”, explains Aidê Nunes da Silva.

The president of the HTLVida Association, Adjeane Oliveira, reaffirmed the entity's commitment to the fight for the implementation of a care network that will add to the HTLV Center of the Bahiana and the Edgar Santos Hospital. Indignant, she highlighted that it is essential that the state and municipal administrations provide quick responses in the construction of policies that assist citizens with this grievance. “The professionals in these networks need to be qualified, there is a need for tubes, diapers, wheelchairs, the cost of which is high for symptomatic patients. We need support for a headquarters of the association which, nowadays, is in a place with no accessibility for symptomatic members”, he reports.

The former president and founder of Associação HTLVida, Ms. Dalva de Souza Monteiro, also highlighted her satisfaction for remaining in the fight, even with limitations and using a wheelchair.

Ending the event, deputy Alex Piatã reaffirmed the commitment of the Health Commission of the Legislative Assembly of the State of Bahia to the struggle for the implementation of a care network, noting that the State Health Department, represented there by its technical staff, has been working on this perspective. He stressed that he will proceed with the referrals identified at the hearing and that he is in articulation with Dom Murilo Sebastião Ramos Krieger, archbishop primate of Salvador and vice president of the CNBB to assist the HTLVida Association, considering the support of the Catholic Church as significant for the unleashed struggle by that association.