Rio de Janeiro Hospitals to Get About 3,000 Servers Amid Public Service Crisis

To address the lack of manpower in the health sector in the seaside city of Brazil, the government announced that it will hire 2,943 servers to be deployed to the six federal state hospitals.

Jornal Floripa said the sum of the contracts of all additional personnel, mostly doctors, nurses and technicians, amount to more than $130.9 million. They are expected to start working come February 1.

The Secretary for Health Care Ministry Alberto Beltrame announced on Thursday that the registration for the new job openings has started, and will last until Jan. 22.

It was also noted in the Jornal Floripa report that the contracts of these servers will be six months long, and could be renewed for up to two years.

TelesurTV said the move in Rio was done amid a funding crisis that caused a lower number of hospital staff and lack of needed equipment in medical facilities.

The same report said that the Health Care Ministry has announced that it will hire 693 doctors and 605 nurses in the coming days.

"It's a significant increase, equivalent to opening a new hospital in Rio rapidly," Beltrame said in the TelesurTV report.

It also noted that this is a welcome development after Rio de Janeiro declared a "state of emergency" when it lacked the funds to purchase health equipment, supplies and even salaries for hospital workers.

A Reuters report published by Channel News Asia noted that the health problem in Rio is one of the worst the country has witnessed.

"This is the worst crisis I've seen," 60-year-old nurse Anjela Caldas told Reuters.

She claimed that patients in emergency cases were not treated by hospitals because of lack of space and people. Chronic health issues were said to be the priority in medical facilities.

According to Folha de S. Paulo, the medical system in Rio reached its lowest when the government was not able to pay suppliers and give out wages on time to the workers.

The said crisis greatly affected 17 emergency facilities and seven hospitals, which were forced to "partially or totally close" during the past days.

But this may soon change as Beltrame added in the Jornal Floripa report that the contracts for the improvement in the health sector will also activate 34 ICU beds and 120 surgical beds.

"It amounts to an opening of a new midrange hospital," the secretary added.

However, Reuters highlighted that the health problems of the country are not only in Rio. It said that the entire nation is battling with the outbreak of mosquito-borne virus Zika.

This virus was linked by health experts to the increase in the number of babies born with microcephaly, a condition where there is incomplete brain development.