The Socialist deputy Joana Pombo Tavares described the failure to comply with the 30-day legal deadline to respond to a PS request submitted to the Legislative Assembly of the Azores on April 11 as “unacceptable” and a “disrespect towards the residents of Santa Maria.”
“We submitted a series of questions regarding the challenges faced by the residents of Santa Maria in accessing healthcare, and we have yet to receive any response from the Regional Government,” stated the parliamentarian in a press release issued by the party.
In the request mentioned, Joana Pombo Tavares and João Vasco Costa inquired the Azorean executive about the immediate measures being taken to ensure equal access to healthcare for the residents of Santa Maria, highlighting the “critical situation” on the island, whose Health Unit is “without any General and Family Medicine physicians.”
The deputies also questioned the regularization of daily payments prescribed by law for patients traveling from Santa Maria.
Additionally, they sought clarification from the Regional Government on social cases that remain hospitalized in the Health Unit due to the lack of adequate response on the island, stating that “this situation is detrimental not only to those individuals but also to the Health Unit itself, which sees its capacity for admitting other patients reduced.”
Joana Pombo Tavares and João Vasco Costa consider the situation “unacceptable” and demand an urgent response from the government led by José Manuel Bolieiro.
According to the deputy, currently, “patients are forced to resort to the Urgent Care Service even for situations that do not justify it, thus being more exposed to the risk of contagion and without access to regular medical follow-up.”
“According to the Health Unit’s administration, six new nursing positions are required. However, the [Regional] Government only authorized two competitions to regularize existing contracts, without any effective increase in staffing,” she noted when the request was publicized.
For PS/Azores, the lack of response from the Regional Government “hinders the oversight duty of the Legislative Assembly and represents a lack of respect towards Santa Maria residents.”
