Four days after the fire that left 16 elderly adults dead at the El Edén home in Pitrufquén, the tragedy continues to open new fronts: during the morning of this Monday, personnel from the Investigations Police carried out procedures at the site.
According to reports from the PDI, biochemical experts from the Forensic Laboratory of Temuco went to the facilities of the Legal Medical Service, in order to take DNA samples from the deceased to work on their identification.
According to what Commissioner Manuel Zamudio, biochemical expert from the Forensic Laboratory of Temuco, detailed, “all resources will be focused on having answers and accurate results as soon as possible in order to give peace of mind to the community and to the families to hand over the respective bodies.”
Likewise, he pointed out that “depending on the quality of the samples, it can take between three to five days without any problem.”
In the same way, he made a call to the relatives, so that they take a sample in order to facilitate identification.
“For now, the respective call is made to approach any facility of the Legal Medical Service in the country, that the children approach to provide a voluntary sample, so that these samples can be transferred and examined in the same way,” he mentioned.
But the incident, besides the tragedy itself, opened a long-term objective set by the President José Antonio Kast, who stated that urgent measures will be taken to review the operating and safety conditions of the country’s elderly homes.
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In that context, during the last day, the Ministries of Health and Social Development held various meetings to strengthen inspections in these residences, recalling that this matter as well as operating authorizations depend on the health portfolio.
And the establishment had ongoing procedures. In an interview with EmolTV, the Minister of Social Development, María Jesús Wulf, stated that “all the background is being gathered. The Ministry of Health has a very relevant role in clarifying these facts, and undoubtedly many alerts and alarms arise, because the different institutions that should have played a role and acted timely putting the dignity of people at the center, that they are well, have to account precisely for what happened.”
The Secretary of State, who will meet with her counterpart from Health, May Chomali, this Tuesday on the matter, also acknowledged that the situation “goes beyond this crisis,” related to the care of the elderly in the country and establishing standards for it. “It is an urgency, given the aging of the population, we need to have an offer that meets the dignity of people,” she said, warning that in terms of homes intended for the elderly “there is a very high number of clandestine ones,” which “has to worry us,” pointing out that unlike the public Long-Term Care Facilities for the Elderly (ELEAM), private residences do not have health resolutions.
And while the regional health authority of La Araucanía declined to comment on the matter when consulted by La Tercera stating that the spokespersons on this issue are being taken by the presidential delegate of the same region, Francisco Ljubetic, this authority emphasized during the day that the facility has a pending health summary since before the tragedy, which is why he instructed to expedite its resolution.
In addition, he agreed that inspections of these places must be strengthened: “What worries us, and the President of the Republic also said it, is that we have to find possible responsibilities in every area, because some things were done badly or because they simply were not done. We do not overlook that kind of neglect and, obviously, we will do what is necessary.”
The local authority concluded that “we cannot ignore a reality that we indeed have in Chile, in a society that ages like ours, and where obviously there are multiple offers, not necessarily under the protection of the regulations. And that is where we have to put effort, because there has to be a more comprehensive public policy.”
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