The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday the unexpected closure of the Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency services at Garcia de Orta Hospital due to a shortage of doctors, necessitating the transfer of patients to Lisbon facilities as no local services were available in the Setúbal Peninsula.
“This weekend, without prior indication and at the last moment, service-providing doctors who regularly ensure that the populations in the Setúbal Peninsula receive necessary services expressed their unavailability,” the government stated in a release.
In a statement to the press, the mayor of Almada in the Setúbal district voiced concern and criticized the government for abandoning the plan outlined by the previous executive leadership of the National Health Service headed by Fernando Araújo.
“It is clear that we view this situation with increasing concern because, contrary to forced announcements, there is no real plan in operation,” said Inês de Medeiros (PS).
Inês de Medeiros argued that during Fernando Araújo’s tenure, there was a plan with clear predictability and daily updates on which services were open or closed, alongside the opening of successive vacancies for healthcare professionals, primarily in crucial areas like obstetrics and gynecology.
“For now, the only thing we see is the undermining of all previously planned measures without a reliable alternative,” she stated, adding, “At this moment, it’s necessary to acknowledge that not only is this not going well, but it’s actually worsening.”
Inês de Medeiros further argued that health issues should be considered at the level of the Setúbal Peninsula and Lisbon Metropolitan Area rather than on a case-by-case, municipality basis.
“Let’s not forget that Garcia de Orta in Almada is the largest hospital in the south of the country, serving not just Almada and Seixal but all municipalities as far as beyond Setúbal,” she stated.
Following Saturday’s unexpected closure and Sunday’s limited operations, the Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency services at Garcia de Orta Hospital reopened to the public today.
According to the SNS portal, the emergency services resumed at 08:30, confirmed to a news agency by an official source from the Almada Seixal Local Health Unit.
On Sunday and until 08:30 today, the Obstetrics and Gynecology departments only received cases referred by the Medical Emergency Direction Centre of the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM).
According to the schedules published on the SNS portal, there are no plans for further closure of Garcia de Orta’s services through Sunday.
Today, in the Setúbal Peninsula, the emergency services in these specialties are closed at the Hospital Nossa Senhora do Rosário in Barreiro and Hospital São Bernardo in Setúbal.
Garcia de Orta Hospital, operational since September 1991, is part of the Almada-Seixal Local Health Unit and currently serves an estimated population of about 350,000 in the Almada and Seixal areas.
