The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, assured on Monday, September 15, from Lisbon’s Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospital, that “there was a plan” to prevent the simultaneous closure of obstetric emergency services in the Setúbal Peninsula, as occurred this past weekend. However, this plan was not fully executed “for various reasons”.
Addressing the possibility of the situation occurring again, the Minister highlighted that it is “unsustainable”.
“Regarding the near future, it is naturally unsustainable for us to have the Setúbal Peninsula, as happened for the first time this past weekend, without an open emergency service. That is not possible,” she admitted, noting that not only in this area but also in other hospitals, the National Health Service (SNS) relies heavily on “service provision” by medical staff.
Regarding the issue at hand, Ana Paula Martins disclosed that there was a specific request for the ministry to “open seven positions for a team that would come from outside the SNS”. However, this was not realized.
“The truth is that, for various reasons, which certainly have an explanation, I have to acknowledge that [only] two of these positions – we are approaching the third – have been filled,” she noted.
According to the Minister, “contrary to what some might think, the Ministry of Health is not assigning any responsibility to the doctors”. “They are not linked to the SNS. They work on a task basis,” she recalled, although in the SNS statement there was a different response.
“Now we need to have non-precarious contracts – and there we must agree with the unions. We cannot have a service that serves 10 million people without having stable contracts that ensure the continuity of services and guarantee the teams. We cannot have completely different contracts to the point where some hospitals have systems where professionals are hired without having to do emergency duty, and others where the same type of professional does not have that prerogative,” she considered.
Thus, “the new legislation will clarify the regime that is followed for the hiring of service provision”. “Over the years, various measures were taken that made us very dependent on service provision. That was the incentive. Our incentive is in the opposite direction. And, obviously, we are aware that to have fair rules for those who are here every day and never close the door, we also need to create conditions for those who left – because it was more rewarding to work as service providers – to return,” she emphasized.
This legislation is expected to be completed by the end of the year, Ana Paula Martins stated.
The Minister of Health’s comments were made to journalists following the ceremony awarding the Health Ministry’s Medal of Merit to the Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospital, on the day the SNS celebrates its 46th anniversary.
It should be noted that this past weekend, the entire southern margin was without obstetric emergencies.
The Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency services at Garcia de Orta Hospital in Almada are closed due to a shortage of doctors, the government revealed. This was the only hospital on the southern margin that was providing the service this weekend.
Lusa | 21:01 – 13/09/2025
The closure of the Obstetrics and Gynecology emergency services at Garcia de Orta Hospital in Almada was unexpected.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Health attributed the situation to contract doctors who had been hired for service provision but were unavailable without prior notice.
