The alert was raised in a letter addressed to the head of the order, where hospital doctors reported that the “situation has been recurring,” prompting numerous excuses for responsibility, according to the union.
“The doctors of Amadora-Sintra describe a reality that exceeds all limits of safety and professional dignity,” the SMZS emphasized, noting that emergencies are managed by “understaffed teams with insufficiently qualified members,” resulting in “unacceptable wait times and working conditions that compromise” the provision of care.
In a statement, SMZS also noted that during the first weekend of November, wait times in the emergency room exceeded 24 hours, a situation the management of the Amadora-Sintra Local Health Unit attributed to the absence of scheduled doctors.
“But the reality is that on Saturday, November 1, only one internal medicine specialist was scheduled during the day and two at night for the entire hospital’s emergency department, which serves a population of over 500,000,” the union stated, adding that the rest of the team consisted of less qualified doctors.
SMZS also reported that this team had to support approximately 300 inpatient beds across the hospital, including intermediate care units.
At that time, contacted by Lusa, the Fernando Fonseca Hospital explained that the significant delays in treating urgent patients (yellow wristband) were due to the absence of some scheduled doctors, but mainly because of several emergent patient cases that required resuscitation, which occupied the on-duty staff for longer periods.
“This complaint confirms what SMZS had already made public in July this year: the departure of eight doctors from the emergency department dramatically reduced the hospital’s response capacity,” which “never recovered” from this situation, the statement added.
After expressing solidarity with the healthcare professionals at Amadora-Sintra, the union called for urgent intervention from the Medical Association and the Ministry of Health.
