The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday the unexpected closure of the Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency services at Hospital Garcia de Orta due to a shortage of doctors required to maintain shifts, resulting in the need for patients to be transported to hospitals in Lisbon due to the lack of service in the Setúbal Peninsula.
“This weekend, unexpectedly and at the last minute, the service-providing doctors who routinely ensure that the populations of the Setúbal Peninsula receive their rightful services expressed their unavailability,” stated a communiqué.
The President of the Portuguese Medical Association, Carlos Cortes, in statements to Lusa, mentioned that this situation highlights “the enormous difficulties that exist, especially in the Setúbal Peninsula,” which has a population of over 800,000, as well as “the permanent failures” of the health ministry and the National Health Service Executive Directorate (DE-SNS) in addressing the situation.
“As clearly mentioned in the Ministry of Health’s communiqué, the responsibility to permanently ensure a response lies with the Ministry of Health and the Executive Directorate, and both have profoundly failed,” he criticized.
He specifically pointed to the DE-SNS, asserting that “it has the daily responsibility to coordinate, articulate, and plan the National Health Service response,” but noted it is “more than evident that in recent weeks and months, this has not been happening,” indicating “permanent failures.”
For Cortes, there should be “a backup plan, a redundancy, especially in this area of the Setúbal Peninsula,” which has faced “significant challenges” in keeping emergency services operational.
He acknowledged that unforeseen circumstances such as illness or problems might prevent professionals from attending their shifts but argued that the system must be equipped to handle such situations.
“If there are certain doctors unable to start a shift, others must be available to do so,” he argued, lamenting the absence of such a “redundancy system,” as evidenced in this case.
He described the situation as “inadmissible,” labeling it “a severe planning failure” by the DE-SNS.
Furthermore, he criticized the Ministry of Health for “attempting to place the blame” for the emergency department closures on the service-providing doctors.
He insisted that in these circumstances, it is the responsibility of the Ministry of Health or the hospital’s board to investigate what truly transpired with these doctors, “considering if, as stated, they genuinely did not want to begin their shift.”
If no “understandable, justifiable reasons” exist, Cortes believes that the authorities must take action.
“The board, which has a contract with these doctors, and the Ministry of Health must intervene and even report the situation to the Medical Association,” since doctors have an “ethical and deontological obligation” to provide healthcare services when required.
Thus, he emphasized, “if there is truly an issue, if there are deontological aspects that were not adhered to,” the ministry must also inform the Medical Association, allowing it to undertake its regulatory function.
Carlos Cortes further highlighted that the ministry has not enacted appropriate reforms to attract more doctors to the National Health Service.
He believes the National Health Service’s problem “is indeed” the shortage of doctors, which is why he plans to present a set of proposals to the Government and parliamentary groups.
These include “a package of 20 measures to make the National Health Service more attractive,” focusing on improving working conditions, employing new technologies, enhancing training conditions, valuing the medical profession through a new medical career path, and incentivizing doctors to work in less populated areas.
“There has been a significant reliance by successive governments—not initiated by the doctors but by the hospitals themselves—to contract doctors as service providers, whereas the desirable outcome” is to employ doctors to become part of the National Health Service’s permanent staff,” he further argued.
[News updated at 1:13 PM]
