MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Uruguayan hospitals: Facemasks no longer mandatory

Medina had insisted that it was about time for the measure to be more flexible

The Uruguayan Government lifted the mandatory requirement to wear facemasks at healthcare facilities nationwide, it was reported in Montevideo Thursday. The document was signed by President Luis Lacalle Pou.

The measure comes after Doctor Julio Medina, who chairs the Infectious Diseases Department at the University of the Republic (Udelar) wrote on X this week that it was just about time.

“The widespread use of masks in hospital centers in recent times has only generated an unnecessary barrier in patient care, over-aggregated contamination, expenses to the institutions, loss of credibility in the masks, discomfort for health professionals who have already been using them for almost four years and all this without any additional benefit,” Medina wrote.

“Healthcare personnel should use masks according to risk activity and following protocols,” he also pointed out.

The mandatory use of face masks in health centers was made mandatory due to the outbreak of coronavirus in Uruguay and worldwide.

“In health establishments: the mandatory use of masks at the entrance of the same is discontinued,” the Decree read.

Medina had insisted that it was necessary to “make the use of masks in hospital environments more flexible”, since “health professionals need a break before respiratory and Covid-19 viruses increase again.”

The infectiologist also noted that facemasks should be limited to people with symptoms of respiratory infection or those whose clinical condition and history could lead to a serious infection, such as severely immunosuppressed patients, in addition to healthcare practitioners in certain circumstances.