IESS surgeons operate on wrong leg; Taxi drivers to be subsidized up to $33/mo.; Music Festival features 180 guest artists; Gualaceo women tell their story

Viernes, 14/6/2024

Hola, Todos –

Actividades –

IV Festival Nacional Infantil de Interpretación Musical (IV Festival Nacional Infantil de Interpretación Musical) – The Concierto al Mérito Artístico at the IV Festival Nacional Infantil ‘Edgar Palacios 2024’ will be el miercoles, 19/6 a las 15:00 in Loja. The Conservatorio de Música “José María Rodríguez” will be represented by Raúl Jara. He is one of 9 students and the only Cuencano selected from a field of 65 students nationally, and will play the piano.

Tens-of-thousands are expected to turn out next week for Cuenca’s annual Music Festival. 180 guest artists have been invited to perform.

Mujeres artesanas (Craftswomen) – The Universidad de Azuay (UDA, pronounced Oo-dah) presented the book, “Historias de Mujeres Artesanas de Gualaceo,” which as also translated into English – “Stories of artisan women from Gualaceo and their legacy.” The book highlights the role of women from the viewpoint of the creator, survivor, and driving force of society. Some craftswomen told their life stories as an example of resilience and courage.

De El Mercurio del jueves, 13/6 (2 articles):

La Fiesta de la Música 2024 tendrá 180 artistas invitados (Music Fest 2024 will have 180 guest artists) – The 2024 Fiesta de la Música will be held on los 20, 21, & 22 de junio in both public and private venues in Cuenca, Turi, and Gualaceo. The opening will be el jueves, 20/6 a las 18:00 in the Otorongo Plaza with Mugre Sur-HIp Hop (Quito), Agni-DJ Electrónica (Gualaceo), and Jorge Piedra – DJ Eléctronica (Cuenca).
Viernes 21 Junio:
Funky Family a las 18:30 at ‘Zoobriedad’ (Paseo 3 de Noviembre)
Floreana a las 20:00 at ‘La Cigale’
Eternautas a las 19:00 at Millenium Plaza
Sábado 22: Junio
Experimental electronic artists from Cuenca from 17:00 – 00:00 at the Puente Roto
Various artists and bands from 14:30 – 22:00 in Turi.

Obra “Aguijón” en el festival de artes “Kabaret Prohibido” (The play “Aguijón” at the “Kabaret Prohibido” arts festival ) – The nomadic dance and poetic theater project “Aguijón” will be at the Centro Cultural El Prohibido el viernes 14 and el sábado 15 de junio a las 20:00. The performance explores the precolombian races through movement and the mask. This play is part of the “Kabaret Prohibdo” festival of scenic arts which will show more than 20 works until septiembre. Cost: $7.00.

Titular –

Investiga ‘error’ al operar a niña: IESS (Investigation into ‘error’ when operating on girl: IESS) – The IESS announced that it assembled a committee to investigate why a 12 year old girl received surgery on the wrong leg at the “José Carraso Arteaga” Hospital in Cuenca. The child was admitted with a fracture of the epiphysis of her left tibia. In an apparent error, the doctors operated on her right tibia. The following day the correct leg was operated on. An internal hospital notification said that the “evento adverso” (adverse event) happened because of a lack of verification before the patient entered the operating room and during the asepsis of the leg by the resident. The report made recommendations to keep such events from recurring including a protocol to mark the limb to receive surgery. It also recommended training for personnel in traumatology.

Patricio Estrella, a lawyer and medical insurance consultant, explained that malpractice can or not cause damage which is legally classified into injuries and death. The penal code calls for penalties ranging from 3 days to 5 years in prison depending on the length of time the injury lasts. If a patient is injured, made ill, or incapacitated for between 4 & 8 days, the penalty can be 30-70 days in prison. If the injury lasts longer, the prison sentence becomes longer as well. <A different approach to medical malpractice – criminal as opposed to civil penalties. If you were a doctor, would you rather buy insurance with a premium that could support a family of 4 modestly for a year or serve up to 5 years in prison? And which consequence of malpractice would make you more careful about how you’d treat your patients?>

Actualidades –

Lunes y martes cerrarán vía a Pasaje (Vía to Pasaje to be closed Monday and Tuesday) – Vehicular circulation on the vía Cuenca-Girón-Pasaje will be closed from lunes a las 20:00 to martes a las 10:00 to change a sewer line at km. 118 in the Vivar sector. The alternate route for light vehicles is Chilcaplaya-Uzhcurrimi-Quera. Drivers are urged to be cautious since parts of the vía through Chilcaplaya are gravel. <Or delay your trip for a day, although a day is probably not enough to repave over the sewer work so you’d be hitting gravel or rough asphalt anyway.>

Nacional –

USD 33, el techo para compensar a choferes ($33, the ceiling for compensating drivers) – The Government is moving forward on determining the mechanism to compensate transportistas so they won’t raise fares after gas subsidies are eliminated. <Will there be an enforcement mechanism to make sure transportistas don’t take the compensation and raise prices anyway, given that people want to eat their cake and have it too?>

The minister of the Economía y Finanzas said that depending on where taxistas operate, in a large or small city, they will receive a monthly payment from $23 to $33. The amount is based on an estimate of gas consumption between 90 & 130 gallons. Owners of commercial pick-ups will receive from $19 to $25 based on gas consumption between 77 & 100 gallons per month. Owners of tricimotos (putt-putts) that operate mostly on the coast will get from $11 to $19 based on gas consumption of between 45 & 75 gallons/mo. Transportistas will start getting compensation in julio of this year when subsidies on Extra and Ecopaís are removed. The Government thinks it will cost $35 million for the rest of 2024. The transport unions are not in agreement with the amount of the compensation, saying that gas consumption is at least double the Government estimate. Discussions with the unions are continuing. <I hope they don’t take as long as the discussions about synchronizing fare collections between the buses and the Tranvía – which seems like they’re on a path to discussions until Hitler is beatified.>

And that’s all for today so hasta ? –

Jeanne