“I can guarantee that the local health unit is fully prepared to open the call for the project early next year and then the construction tender,” Ana Paula Martins stated.
The minister spoke to journalists at the end of a visit to Hospital José Joaquim Fernandes in Beja, part of her tour of the country’s local health units.
When asked about the availability of funds for the project, Ana Paula Martins confirmed that the Baixo Alentejo Local Health Unit (ULSBA) “has the money planned within its organizational development plan.”
“We must therefore hold a project tender, and once the project is finalized—which is crucial due to the revision of the functional plan—we must launch the construction tender,” she explained.
Acknowledging the complexity of the process and the need to adhere to legislation, Martins stressed that while it may take time, it is imperative not to wait another 20 years for the hospital to be modernized.
“It’s crucial to start the essential expansion of this hospital by 2026,” she affirmed.
In response to concerns from the Baixo Alentejo Federation of the Socialist Party that the project risks becoming shelved by the Ministry of Health, Ana Paula Martins assured that it is neither shelved nor just on a desk, but actively progressing.
She also mentioned plans for a “requalification of the emergency department” at Beja hospital over the next year, noting that “a project is already completed.”
“We know the exact value of the work and hope for a financing line, similar to the previous government for birth units, for the emergency departments, and this hospital will be a priority,” she noted.
Reflecting on her visit, Martins expressed concern about the “very poor conditions” of the Beja hospital building, emphasizing the importance of infrastructure quality for maintaining professional excellence.
“Patients receive good care because above all, professionals are capable of almost working miracles, but these are not acceptable working conditions, and they cannot continue,” she remarked.
In August 2024, ULSBA disclosed that the planned requalification and expansion of Hospital José Joaquim Fernandes, Beja, had an estimated cost of 118 million euros, with construction potentially starting in the second half of 2026.
The details were part of the technical studies conducted by ULSBA, which oversees the hospital.
On April 14th of this year, the local health unit announced that the Government had already signed the order for the architecture, specialties, and construction tender to expand and requalify the hospital.
Regarding the alleged closure of the Neonatology service at Hospital Dona Estefânia, Lisbon, Ana Paula Martins clarified that such closure “is not planned” and that what is being developed is “an organizational project” for a unified response “in a hub.”
“With two neonatology units, one at Estefânia and another at Maternidade Alfredo da Costa, and due to the lack of human resources in the National Health Service (SNS), especially in maternal-infant and neonatology specialties, there is a project to organize [them] into a hub,” she mentioned.
