Gastroenteritis outbreak and three deaths at Ceremos

What it is

Ceremos is the current name of the Medical Occupational and Psychosocial Rehabilitation Centre operating on the grounds of the former Etchepare and Santín Carlos Rossi colonies in San José, under ASSE. It houses people in long-stay admissions, many of them for decades. In late October 2023 an acute diarrhoea outbreak broke out there. According to El Observador (28 October 2023), the centre had 444 inpatients and two infection peaks were recorded, the first on 19 October. Escherichia coli, a bacterium usually linked to contaminated food, was identified in one patient; ASSE official Mario Torales said the vector “could be linked” to food handling, and the agency set up teams to review food processing and distribution.

What is questioned

Outbreak figures differ by source: El Observador reported some 69 cases on 28 October 2023; Montevideo Portal, two days later, said it had reached 81 of the 444 residents, with 15 active cases. Three residents —aged 28, 44 and 61, according to El Observador— died in that period. ASSE told Montevideo Portal the three deceased “had other pathologies” and referred the cases to its Patient Safety Committee (Cosepa) to determine whether they were linked to the outbreak. On 7 November la diaria reported that ASSE president Leonardo Cipriani closed the administrative inquiry: the deaths were due to three independent causes —digestive haemorrhage, heart attack and peritoneal sepsis— unrelated to the gastroenteritis. Karina Cardozo, head of the centre's union branch, replied in the same article that “staff have still not been told the result of the investigation”. Four days earlier the staff committee had filed a written complaint about “shortcomings and deterioration” in the food service.

Why it matters to you

Food service in an inpatient facility is a State purchase: it is tendered, paid for and supervised. When it fails, the cost falls on people who cannot choose where to eat or complain on their own behalf. Checking who supplies food to ASSE facilities, how often and under what controls is exactly what open procurement data makes possible.

Where it stands