The Claim: “In Portugal’s Setúbal Peninsula, as of July, there have been no closures in obstetrics services.”
On Friday, during a press conference following the Council of Ministers, the Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, stated in response to journalists that “today, there are fewer closed emergency services and more open ones,” and “in the case of Setúbal Peninsula, the Prime Minister detailed [the previous day], I believe in obstetrics, that this July, up to now, there have been no closures.”
Press conference of the Council of Ministers https://t.co/pfN1U9nCkg
— Portuguese Republic (@govpt) July 18, 2025
Various media outlets, including Lusa agency, published this information and later updated that there have been records of obstetrics services closures in Barreiro and Almada since the beginning of the month.
The Minister of the Presidency, António Leitão Amaro, announced today that the health emergency plan presented a year ago is yielding results, citing fewer closed emergency services compared to the previous year.
Lusa | 16:55 – 18/07/2025
Facts: several hospitals in the region have closed obstetrics emergency services since the beginning of the month
A survey conducted on Friday afternoon on the National Health Service (SNS) Portal, dedicated to publishing hospital emergency schedules, revealed that the Minister of the Presidency’s statement is not accurate: two of the three Local Health Units (ULS) in the Setúbal Peninsula had their obstetrics and gynecology emergencies closed, specifically Hospital Garcia de Orta (ULS Almada/Seixal) and Hospital Nossa Senhora do Rosário, in Barreiro (ULS Arco Ribeirinho).
On Friday, only the Hospital de São Bernardo in Setúbal (ULS Arrábida) had its obstetrics and gynecology emergency service open, a situation that changed over the weekend, with Garcia de Orta remaining closed while Barreiro and Setúbal services opened on Saturday, although the latter was only for patients referred by CODU or INEM, with another closure scheduled for Sunday.
Moreover, records indicate that the obstetrics emergency and maternity service at Hospital do Barreiro was closed for the last ten days, from July 9 to this morning, as well as other interruptions at this hospital and the gynecology and obstetrics emergency at Garcia de Orta.
To determine the source of the discrepancy, Lusa Verifica analyzed the Minister of the Presidency’s statements, notably the official video of the press conference, where Leitão Amaro said, “in the case of Setúbal Peninsula, the Prime Minister specified, including, I believe in obstetrics, that this July, up to this point, there have been no closures.”
The analysis of Luís Montenegro’s intervention during the debate on the state of the nation on Thursday shows that the Prime Minister was referring to a different specialty.
“This July, our forecast is that emergency closures will decrease by 27%: 18% in obstetrics and gynecology and 100% in pediatrics. This means that in the Setúbal Peninsula, in July, the pediatric emergency closures are currently resolved,” said the government official in response to the Chega party’s deputy André Ventura.
The tables on the SNS Portal with hospital emergency schedules for the beginning of the month are no longer available, but Lusa Verifica found no records of pediatric emergency closures in any of the three ULS covered, so the Prime Minister’s statement is correct.
Contradiction
Lusa Verifica contacted Minister Leitão Amaro’s office, which acknowledged the mix-up of services. “It was a lapse by the Minister of the Presidency, who intended to refer to the fact that pediatric emergencies did not close at any time during July in the Setúbal Peninsula – as stated by the Prime Minister in the State of the Nation debate. For this reason, in the statement made at the end of the Council of Ministers meeting, he referred to what was already said by the Prime Minister in Parliament.”
Lusa Verifica Assessment: False
It is false that since the beginning of the month no obstetrics emergencies have closed in the Setúbal Peninsula. This statement was a lapse by the Minister of the Presidency, who confused obstetrics and gynecology with pediatrics, which is indeed a service whose emergencies have operated without interruptions since the start of the month in the hospitals of the Setúbal Peninsula.
