“This stems from a personal situation, but it is not a personal initiative; it is for all families, like ours, who one day found themselves in a crisis and faced these realities. This is not a criticism of IPO Porto, quite the opposite. It is a request to enhance the capabilities of an excellent hospital where we encounter incredible professionals,” Nuno Silva, the person behind the petition “For the Creation of Pediatric Intensive Care Units at IPO Porto,” told Lusa, when it had gathered 20,421 signatures by 10:30.
Nuno Silva is the father of an 11-year-old boy diagnosed with Burkitt’s leukemia in 2024. Currently in remission, the disease required months of treatments and hospitalizations at IPO Porto and Hospital de São João.
“During treatment, Santiago faced a severe complication, was placed into an induced coma, and IPO Porto lacks pediatric intensive care. This necessitates network collaboration. There was a vacancy at Hospital de São João, but in such cases, we need a specialized ambulance and team for the transfer. These are factors beyond our control, leaving us feeling utterly powerless as parents who cannot do anything,” he described.
For this reason, Nuno Silva hopes to see IPO Porto, which he calls an “exemplary and exceptional cancer hospital,” equipped with capabilities that would prevent the need for transfers for further treatments.
“IPO is a reference institution for cancer treatment with exceptional professionals who save lives daily. This is a reinforcement of what IPO does. Our question is: couldn’t we have all those cares within the same space and not rely on external variables?” he said.
According to Nuno Silva, his son stayed in a positive pressure room at IPO Porto, “a perfect space for what he needed, surrounded by people whose concern and care were complete and incredible.”
“But then we had to bring him outside, exposed to everything we tried to protect him from. This petition aims to prevent that,” said Nuno Silva.
Emphasizing that this is neither a “personal nor political” initiative, but a “human” one, he disclosed plans to write to the President of the Assembly of the Republic and party leaders to request national-level debate on this demand.
“When in such situations, what we want is all care to be in that space. In other words, we want to further strengthen the IPO’s capabilities, providing them with more tools [so] they can do their work even better,” he emphasized.
Underlining that “this is not an initiative of one family but for all families,” Nuno Silva shared with Lusa that other parents and health professionals joined the petition as they “understood the necessity and importance of this type of service and the need within the same premises.”
The petition text begins with the phrase, “the lives of children with cancer cannot wait,” stating, “while IPO Porto is a reference in cancer treatment, also for children, when a child has a serious complication, they must be transferred to Hospital São João or, if unavailable, to Coimbra or Lisbon.”
“This means a child’s life may depend on the availability of an equipped ambulance with a specialized team, a vacancy at another hospital, and that the transport occurs without delays (….) It shouldn’t be this way,” argue the signatories.
The petition asks the parliament to discuss the creation of a Pediatric Intensive Care Unit at IPO Porto, “so that every child can have immediate access to needed care without leaving the hospital where they are treated.”
“We know it will cost money. But how much is a child’s life worth?” they conclude.
The Portuguese Oncology Institutes are part of the National Oncology Referral Network, working in conjunction with SNS hospitals.
Contacted by Lusa, a source from IPO Porto noted that, in pediatric oncology, IPO and Hospital São João serve as a Reference Center for pediatric oncology, sharing specialized resources.
“Therefore, pediatric intensive care is provided within this network, ensuring adequate patient response,” the institution emphasized.
Once admitted to the Assembly of the Republic, petitions with over 7,500 signatures are debated in plenary.
