The noise in front of the Salto hospital once again highlighted a long-standing problem in the country: laws exist, but they are rarely enforced. Uruguayan regulations, particularly Law 17.852 , establish that hospitals must be quiet zones and that the protective perimeter is 200 meters. However, the night of the Peñarol anniversary celebrations proved otherwise.
Groups of fans marched through various city streets with drums, flags, and chants. Their march included the front of the local hospital, where the roar was felt loudly. While celebration reigned outside, inside there were patients in critical condition, elderly adults, and children who needed rest to recover. The contrast was inevitable.
An authority that did not intervene
The most striking aspect was the lack of institutional response. Neither the police nor other authorities acted to prevent the noise in front of the Salto hospital from disturbing the necessary tranquility of the health center. The question is clear: were the officers unaware of the current regulations, or did they simply choose not to intervene?
In either scenario, the result was the same: the law was left in the background, and patients' rights were violated. Regulations on noise pollution are not symbolic; they seek to guarantee minimum conditions for coexistence. However, the Salto incident showed that practice is far from theory.
A society that naturalizes
In that everything is tolerated seems to have taken hold rules can be ignored without consequences.
The incident in Salto shouldn't be seen as just an excessive soccer celebration. Rather, it represents a deeper symptom: a lack of respect for what is essential and the state's inability to enforce basic standards.
Until when will it be allowed?
A hospital is not a stadium or a public square . It's a space where people face delicate health situations, often life-threatening. Allowing popular celebrations to invade that space with drums and flags is a disregard for the most basic right: that of those fighting for their recovery.
The question is inevitable: how long will the disregard of regulations continue to be tolerated? How much longer will we have to live with the noise in front of the Salto hospital without the full force of the law being applied?
If the country fails to guarantee silence in the places where it is most needed, it will be difficult to guarantee order in other areas of public life. What happened in Salto is a reminder that coexistence cannot be left to chance or goodwill: it requires clear rules, respect, and, above all, effective enforcement of current regulations.
The impact of noise outside the Salto hospital not only affects patients. Health care workers are also affected. Doctors and nurses working night shifts have previously pointed out that excessive noise complicates communication between teams and creates distractions during procedures that require concentration. Added to this is the emotional burden of having to contain family members worried about their loved ones' condition while uncontrolled celebrations rage outside. The episode reveals a stark contrast between those fighting to save lives and those, on the sidelines, who forget that a hospital must be respected as a space of silence.
“What happened with the noise in front of the Salto hospital must never happen again.”
