The Board of Directors of Centro Hospitalar do Algarve (CHA) sent on September 4 a letter to the Regional Health Administration (ARS) denouncing (ie terminating) the agreement for the Palliative Care Unit of the Hospital de Portimão.
A letter what the Sul Informação had access in the middle of this afternoon, dated more than a month ago, sent by registered mail with acknowledgment of receipt, and with five illegible signatures of members of the CHA Administration (see image), says: «in the legal framework, come this public entity communicates, for all purposes, to Your Excellencies that it denounces the Agreement signed on April 20, 2009 between this reputable Institute [ARS] and the then Centro Hospitalar do Barlavento Algarvio, EPE, under the terms and for the purposes of the provisions of Clause XII of the same, giving precisely for this purpose the notice of 180 days which is rightly contemplated therein».
This document, which, by the way, is already being widely disseminated on social networks, namely on Facebook, proves that Pedro Nunes' statements were not true, chairman of the Board of Directors of the CHA, when on Friday afternoon he denied the intention to close the Palliative Care Unit of the Hospital de Portimão, reported that same morning by our newspaper.
Pedro Nunes even guaranteed that «it never crossed anyone's mind to close the service», even going so far as to say that this could never happen because the ten existing beds in Portimão «are not enough for the needs of the region».
"Furthermore, even if I wanted to close the service, I would have to give six months' notice and renegotiate with the network», since the service was created with money from the Continuing Care Network and co-financed by the European Union, added the person in charge. From what can be seen in the letter we publish, that's exactly what the Board of Directors did on 4 September – communicated to the ARS the intention to end the Agreement that was the basis for the creation of the Palliative Care Unit (UCP), precisely invoking the deadline of 180 days, that is, , six months.
Like the Sul Informação had already denounced on Friday morning, the dismantling of the UCP has even begun, with the deactivation of the room that used to be used for the patients in that Unit and, above all, for their families.
Another indication that some major change was in preparation was the replacement of the former UCP director, responsible for Anesthesiology at the Hospital de Portimão, for another doctor from the Hospital de Faro, also of the same specialty.
Medical source at the Hospital de Portimão guaranteed today to the Sul Informação that, for the first time since it opened its doors in 2009, this week Palliative Care no longer admitted "any new patients, there are even beds already empty".
In his statements to our newspaper, on Friday afternoon, the president of the CHA had attributed the news of the Unit's closure to "rumors", showing himself even annoyed at "spending the day denying any nonsense that anyone says" .
And he assured that the Palliative Care Unit of Portimão was to be maintained, «in the same place and with the same people» and that it will even be reinforced with «a new palliative and convalescent service», already created and being structured within the Hospital Center from the Algarve (CHA), which will try to "get more beds in other hospitals in the center".
A guarantee that now completely falls apart, given the letter that the Board of Directors the one he presides over sent to the ARS more than a month ago.
«Dr. Pedro Nunes is extremely skilled at playing with words and tries to throw sand in people's eyes, denying the cuts he makes every day, especially in the two hospital units in the Barlavento Algarvio, Lagos and Portimão . But, given this letter, I don't know how he can continue to deny what he himself decided and signed», commented another medical source who agreed to speak with our newspaper.
The Palliative Care Unit in Portimão is part of the National Network for Continuing Care, which, in the Algarve, is managed by the ARS. This UCP was installed at Hospital do Barlavento through an agreement signed on April 20, 2009 between the then CHBA and ARS.
Read the letter here, with more image quality.
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