Date in Portugal
Clock Icon
Portugal Pulse: Portugal News / Expats Community / Turorial / Listing

Chaos in the SNS: 3 babies die in 3 weeks. “Medicine doesn’t solve everything”?

Three pregnant women in the regions of Lisbon and Leiria lost their babies in recent weeks under circumstances linked to the chaos in the National Health Service (SNS), particularly related to the closure of emergency services.

What happened to these pregnant women?

The first incident occurred on June 22 with a woman who was 40 weeks pregnant. Since June 10, the 37-year-old had been contacting the SNS24 hotline due to intense pain and abdominal pressure. She was referred to five hospitals before going into labor. On June 21, SNS24 directed her to Cascais, but only by refusing to go home was she rerouted to Hospital de Santa Maria, where labor was induced the following day.

During a cesarean section, doctors discovered a large hematoma of the broad ligament of the uterus, delaying the extraction of the baby and causing a period of low oxygenation. The baby girl, weighing over four kilograms, was born with low heart rates and did not survive.

Grávida com dores queixou-se em 5 hospitais. Bebé morreu após nascimento

A woman, identified as E.C., reported going through five hospitals over 13 days due to pain complaints. She ended up at Hospital de Santa Maria, where she gave birth. Shortly after, the newborn died.

Notícias ao Minuto | 23:14 – 29/06/2025

The second case involved a woman 31 weeks pregnant living in Barreiro, Setúbal. She called SNS24 because she no longer felt her baby moving. The hotline directed her to Hospital de Santa Maria, but she reportedly said she lacked the money for the trip. This issue was left unaddressed by SNS24. She later called 112, prompting the Barreiro Volunteer Firefighters to find an internal hemorrhage.

No obstetric emergency services were operational in South Bank. Thus, the pregnant woman was taken to Hospital de Cascais, over an hour away. En route, she experienced placental abruption. By the time she reached the hospital, the baby was dead.

Fecho de urgências na Margem Sul 'levou' grávida até Cascais. Bebé morreu

A 38-year-old woman was taken to Hospital de Cascais, more than an hour away from her home, over two hours after her initial request for help. The baby did not survive.

Andrea Pinto | 08:41 – 04/07/2025

The most recent case occurred Thursday morning in Leiria. A 26-week pregnant woman was bleeding and contracting when the Nazaré Firefighters arrived 20 minutes after the alert. She was being taken to Hospital de Leiria when she gave birth, just 10 minutes from the hospital. The mother and baby were admitted immediately upon arrival, but the newborn died.

Bebé morre após chegar ao Hospital de Leiria. Parto foi em ambulância

A 26-week pregnant woman called the emergency services and was transported by the Nazaré Volunteer Firefighters to Leiria. The baby was born on the way but died upon arrival at the reference hospital.

 Notícias ao Minuto | 23:10 – 10/07/2025

“Medicine still cannot solve everything”, says minister

On Wednesday, Ana Paula Martins expressed regret over the outcomes of the first two cases, which were the only ones known at the time, stating they “would have been difficult to avoid” since “medicine still cannot solve everything”.

In an interview with SIC Notícias, the Health Minister argued that the emergency situation in South Bank improved significantly this year, although it remains far from perfect. She acknowledged that having closed emergency services should not be normalized and asked Portuguese citizens for time to guide the SNS out of its current crisis and reorganize the emergency network.

Morte de bebés? Ministra aponta que

The Health Minister stated that the outcomes of the cases of pregnant women losing their babies in recent weeks would have been difficult to avoid, saying “medicine still cannot solve everything”.

Daniela Filipe | 22:41 – 09/07/2025

In both South Bank cases involving pregnant women, health authorities assured that access to healthcare was guaranteed and there were no deficiencies in service. Regarding the incident in Leiria, the commander of Nazaré Firefighters, Mário Cerol, told Renascença he “did not identify any irregularities in the pregnant woman’s transport or communications with emergency services.”

Parties call for Ana Paula Martins to take responsibility

Amid various controversies involving the SNS, from emergency service failures to emergency helicopter contracts, opposition parties are demanding Ana Paula Martins take responsibility, also challenging Prime Minister Luís Montenegro.

Pedido de demissão, auditoria ao INEM e salvar o SNS. Que foi dito?

The emergency medical service (INEM) has been at the center of several controversies in recent months, prompting reactions from political parties and presidential candidates. Some are demanding the Health Minister’s resignation, while others call for a full audit of INEM.

Notícias ao Minuto with Lusa | 08:52 – 08/07/2025

The coordinator of the Left Bloc, Mariana Mortágua, insisted that the minister “must take responsibility for what is happening in the SNS.” The leader of Chega echoed this sentiment, saying Ana Paula Martins must “assume her share of responsibility” regarding recent failures.

Meanwhile, the Secretary-General of PS, José Luís Carneiro, demanded answers from Prime Minister Luís Montenegro about hospital emergency services in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, particularly in the specialties of pediatrics, orthopedics, and obstetrics in the Setúbal Peninsula, posing questions he expects answered “in the coming days”.

The newly elected socialist leader specifically wants to know “whether the government has an emergency plan for managing hospital emergencies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area and why the Setúbal Peninsula has had periods without an adequate response, particularly for pediatrics, orthopedics, and obstetrics.”

The PCP accused the government of deliberately putting pregnant women at risk, arguing that a “total absence of measures” in healthcare has produced a state of insecurity and inhumanity around the country.

Leave a Reply

Here you can search for anything you want

Everything that is hot also happens in our social networks