Luísa Ramos from the Comissão de Utentes da Saúde do Concelho de Almada (CUSCA) expressed skepticism about the government’s announcement that the obstetrics emergency at Hospital Garcia de Orta would operate 24 hours a day starting September 1, with additional doctors from the private sector joining the National Health Service (SNS).
“When we heard the Health Minister announcing the conditions for reopening the emergencies from September 1, we didn’t celebrate because we doubted the issues had been addressed enough to bring doctors back to the SNS,” she stated.
Luísa Ramos noted that the commission’s position aligns with the Federação Nacional dos Médicos, which maintains that the situation will persist without investment in the SNS and valuing health professionals.
“We have been in this situation for years, and it continues because policies haven’t addressed the root problems of the SNS, causing professionals to leave and not return. It is indeed a strategy to hollow out and discredit the SNS,” she emphasized, adding that the closure of the obstetrics and gynecology emergency at Hospital Garcia de Orta was concerning and caused indignation, though it was not surprising.
The Ministry of Health announced the unexpected closure of the obstetrics and gynecology emergency at Hospital Garcia de Orta on Saturday due to a lack of doctors, forcing patients to seek treatment in Lisbon as there was no available service in the Setúbal Peninsula.
“This weekend, unexpectedly and last minute, service provider doctors, who regularly ensure that the Setúbal Peninsula population receives due service, expressed their unavailability,” the Government stated.
Following the unexpected closure on Saturday and service limitation on Sunday, the obstetrics and gynecology emergency at Hospital Garcia de Orta reopened to patients today.
According to the SNS portal, the emergency service reopened at 08:30, confirmed by an official source from the Unidade Local de Saúde Almada Seixal to the Lusa agency.
On Sunday and until 08:30 today, the obstetrics and gynecology emergencies only treated cases referred by the Instituto Nacional de Emergência Médica’s Patient Guidance Center.
The schedules on the SNS portal indicate no planned closure of the Hospital Garcia de Orta service until Sunday.
Today, in the Setúbal Peninsula, the emergencies for these specialties are closed at Hospital Nossa Senhora do Rosário in Barreiro and Hospital São Bernardo in Setúbal.
In operation since September 1991, the Hospital Garcia de Orta, part of the Unidade Local de Saúde Almada-Seixal, currently serves an estimated population of approximately 350,000 residents in Almada and Seixal.
