On Thursday, February 9th, a call for help caused panic among the people at an IMSS hospital in Merida: a baby had been kidnapped; however, it was all part of a drill, a simulation.
The event occurred at the hospital “Ignacio García Téllez” of the IMSS (T-1) in Mérida where the health personnel activated the ‘code pink’ and began the search for the child, causing panic among the patients. However, the fear soon turned to anger, as they later found out that it was a drill of which they had not been previously warned.
The drill, carried out by Civil Protection with the help of IMSS personnel, was to evaluate the hospital’s capacity to deal with a child abduction emergency.
When they were not notified of the drill, the people who were at the clinic began to publish what had happened on social networks, causing various local media to begin to spread the news of the alleged stolen baby in Merida.
The drill is part of an internal program and not all workers are informed with the intention of making it as real as possible.
What is Code Pink in hospitals?
Child abduction in hospitals is an important issue since unfortunately there have been many cases, which is why a color code has been assigned to events of this nature.
The color of this alert in hospitals is pink, (although depending on the hospital it could have a different meaning), it is mostly used to alert about the abduction or abduction of infants.
In Stanley Healthcare it has been standardized as the signal to be emitted in case an infant leaves the protected area without authorization. Code Pink applies to infants under 12 months of age.
The brigadistas are the ones who give the alert, using the corresponding code, and communicate with the Hospital Director, in turn the technical secretary (Administrative Assistant Director) who will direct the technical, logistical and execution actions to apply preventive, relief and recovery measures in the event of a disaster.
When a Code Pink is activated in a hospital, health personnel must perform the following tasks:
- Perform a rapid assessment.
- Notify Security.
- Alert the staff of the entire obstetric or pediatric unit.
- Go to the exits.Check stairwells.
- Immediately organize a search unit.
- Identify all patients.
- Stay with the alerted family.
- Notify the Head Nurse.
- Preserve Evidence.
Other hospital color codes
Code red. Indicates fire.
Code blue. Indicates cardiorespiratory arrest.
Code amber. Code amber in hospitals alerts to a missing adult patient.
Code pink. Alerts to a missing minor.
Code gray. Threat of person with a weapon.
Code brown. Natural disaster.
Code orange. Arrival of several patients.
Code yellow. Hazardous substance spill.
Code green. Request to evacuate the facility.
TYT Newsroom
