The emergency service reopened at 8:30 AM today, confirmed by an official from the Almada Seixal Local Health Unit.
During Sunday and until 8:30 AM today, the emergency services only accepted cases referred by the National Institute of Medical Emergency’s Urgent Patient Guidance Center (INEM).
The schedules published on the SNS portal indicate that there is no planned closure of the service at the Garcia de Orta Hospital until Sunday. This is part of a pilot project that requires prior contact with the SNS 24 helpline.
Today, in the Setúbal Peninsula, the emergency services at the Nossa Senhora do Rosário Hospital in Barreiro and the São Bernardo Hospital in Setúbal are closed.
The Ministry of Health announced on Saturday the unexpected closure of the Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency at Garcia de Orta Hospital due to a lack of doctors to fill the shifts, requiring patients to be referred to hospitals in Lisbon due to no available response in the Setúbal Peninsula.
“This weekend, without any prior indication, and at the last minute, the service provider doctors, who regularly ensure that the populations of the Setúbal Peninsula receive the services they are entitled to, declared their unavailability,” stated the ministry in a release.
The Saturday statement reminded that ULS Almada/Seixal had ensured that a hiring process for doctors was underway to ensure the regular functioning of the Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency 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 with staff doctors and some service providers, although the latter are now unavailable.
The Ministry of Health recalls that the government recently announced new legislation “aimed at ending injustices and privileges of some temporary workers who, being paid much more than their SNS colleagues, do not take on other shifts that they do not find completely convenient.”
