“The Minister of Health called this meeting with the executive committee, and the presidents of the Board of Directors of the three local health units [ULS] in the Setúbal Peninsula to address the issue of obstetrics emergencies,” stated Álvaro Almeida.
The executive director of the National Health Service (SNS) spoke to journalists outside the Ministry of Health in Lisbon, following a meeting attended by Pedro Correia Azevedo from ULS Almada/Seixal, Ana Teresa Xavier from ULS do Barreiro, and Luís Pombo from ULS de Arrábida (Setúbal), alongside Minister Ana Paula Martins.
“We diagnosed the situation, analyzed the solution, and now the minister has the elements needed to make a decision,” he added.
Despite journalists’ insistence, Álvaro Almeida refused to answer questions regarding potential resignations.
“We had a working meeting and provided the minister with the necessary elements so that she can make decisions, and she will subsequently announce the decisions she deems fit,” he insisted.
According to the executive director of the National Health Service (SNS), the decisions will be announced “soon” by Ana Paula Martins.
The Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency department at the Garcia de Orta Hospital in Almada reopened to patients today after an unexpected closure on Saturday and limited service on Sunday.
On Sunday and until 08:30 today, these specialties’ emergencies only received cases referred by the Urgent Patients Orientation Center of the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM).
Today, the emergency departments for these specialties are closed at Nossa Senhora do Rosário Hospital in Barreiro and São Bernardo Hospital in Setúbal, in the Setúbal Peninsula.
The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday, in a statement, the unexpected closure of the Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency department at Garcia de Orta Hospital due to a lack of doctors to cover shifts, forcing patients to be relocated to hospitals in Lisbon due to the lack of response in the Setúbal Peninsula.
In Saturday’s statement, the ministry noted that ULS Almada/Seixal had assured that a process of hiring doctors to ensure the regular operation of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Emergency was underway and that some professionals had already been hired, while others were “in the process of being hired.”
Garcia de Orta Hospital has maintained all Emergency shifts operating with staff doctors, but also by using some service providers, the latter of whom have now become unavailable.
