“Either the executive board [of the National Health Service], along with the Estuário do Tejo Local Health Unit, enacts a more vigorous intervention to attract doctors to the hospital, or I foresee a bleak future for obstetrics at this hospital,” stated the head of the Medical Association.
Carlos Cortes highlighted that the gynecology and obstetrics service has deteriorated in recent years, with a gradual departure of the medical staff, now reduced to just one specialist on the team.
Earlier this month, Health Minister Ana Paula Martins assured that the maternity ward of the Vila Franca de Xira hospital will not close, addressing concerns raised by officials from the five municipalities served by this local health unit.
“We will not close the maternity ward. We are instead studying the emergency referral network to ensure the safety of pregnant women and babies,” Ana Paula Martins declared at the time during the inauguration of the Misericórdia Health Campus in Vila Franca de Xira.
The head of the Medical Association added that during a recent visit by the obstetrics specialty board to assess training conditions, the Vila Franca de Xira Hospital had four specialists, but “of those, now only one remains on the service’s roster.”
“This is very concerning,” acknowledged Carlos Cortes, adding that the association is taking all measures to ensure that interns from that hospital, when returning from placements in other hospitals, can be reassigned to facilities that can provide them with training, “which is currently not the case in Vila Franca de Xira.”
Moreover, the situation of a hospital having only one doctor on staff and losing its training capability “is not a service with a good prospect of care in the near future,” noted Carlos Cortes.
According to the head of the Medical Association, if the Estuário do Tejo Local Health Unit does not swiftly find a solution with the executive board of the National Health Service, the hospital will face “a very great difficulty in responding to patients.”
“I see it as extremely difficult to resolve the issue at Vila Franca de Xira in the short term. More doctors would need to be hired for the service. I find it difficult, given the context of obstetrics, for Vila Franca de Xira to have that capability,” admitted Carlos Cortes.
