CRIC calls for investigation of Popayán clinic due to death of indigenous teacher

At the indigenous reservation of Quintana, in the department of Cauca, death came unexpectedly. Jhon Jairo Campo Sánchez, 29, was a fifth-grade teacher at the San Juan de Quintana Educational Institution and died last weekend, apparently due to medical negligence at the Santa Gracia Clinic in the city of Popayán.

The indigenous authority of the Genaro Sánchez council association, which groups together the reservations of the central area of Cauca, ruled on the facts and demanded that the true causes of the death of the young teacher be investigated and those responsible punished.

In a statement, the Regional Indigenous Council of Cauca (CRIC) reported that Campo Sánchez: “Last week when he was riding his motorcycle to school, he had an accident and broke his toes, he was operated on and was discharged. However, after a short time due to wound ailments that had already been operated on, he had to be sent back to the health center where he unfortunately died two days later, apparently due to poor provision of the health service,” they said.

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The indigenous authorities claimed that the teacher, when he underwent surgery for his fractures, contracted a bacterium in the health center, which ended his life. That was also reported by Campo Sánchez's relatives to local media. “He came back very bad and when he was treated the bacteria were in his blood, he had a heart complication and died.”

His brother and eldest governor of the indigenous council of Quintana, Edgar Campo Sánchez, was emphatic in demanding clarity about what happened, “I call on the authorities, to analyze the responsibility of the health service providers and to carry out the corresponding actions that allow guarantees sufficient to users who demand relevant attention”.

Faced with this reality, the family denounced that from the clinic they have not received a clear answer about the situation: “they are putting a lot of obstacles, for example they delayed the delivery of the medical report and at the time of claiming the body to take it to Legal Medicine, they also put up resistance, because of this, as relatives, we are going to initiate legal action against the clinic.”

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In its letter, the CRIC stated that those who lose the most with this death are the students of the 29-year-old man, who was known as “Runner Roads” and was married three years ago and left three orphaned children.

Some of his acquaintances told the newspaper Diario del Cuaca that, “it is sad to know that a brother, companion and friend has to leave at such an early age due to the negligence of health entities, such as the Santa Gracia Clinic. Today, the comrade leaves us, who started out as an indigenous guard, a dynamizer of education and contributed a lot to his community of the Quintana reservation,” said the indigenous counselor, Jhoe Sauca.

Finally, authorities from the Quintana reservation concluded their statement by saying that “it is worrying that cases like this continue to occur in health entities such as the Santa Gracia clinic in the capital of Cauca, where several people have lost their lives due to the poor provision of the health service”.

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