The launch of an International Public Tender for the private management of the Southern Rehabilitation Medicine Center (CMR Sul), in São Brás de Alportel, will take place «very soon», «within weeks, certainly before the end of the month».
The guarantee was given to the mayors of São Brás, Loulé and Tavira by the member of the Board of Directors of ARS Nuno Ramos and repeated to journalists, on the sidelines of the visit that a delegation of mayors made to that unit, this Monday, 10th August.
During their visit to the South CMR, the mayors say they found a health unit operating at half capacity, with “27 beds in operation, that is, half of the existing ones”.
“According to the information we had at this meeting, in Internment only half of the beds are occupied, due to a lack of nursing professionals, therapists and physiotherapists. The external query is at 30 percent of its capacity. And this leads us to express, once again, our concern and to question the Government about the future of this unit», revealed the mayor of São Brás de Alportel Vítor Guerreiro, on the sidelines of his visit to the CMR Sul.
As for the promise of the member of ARS do Algarve, he says he "wants to believe" that it will be fulfilled, but remembers that the minister of Health "guaranteed, at the beginning of 2014, that the competition was soon and, so far, nothing ». "In our interactions with the Ministry and with the ARS, throughout this time, the answer was always that there would be a solution soon," he added.
At the same time, a competition was opened for the hiring of 32 professionals, which follows its procedures, which may still take time. “Possibly, this process still takes a few months to come to an end,” said Vítor Guerreiro.
And if, when it comes to vacancies for nurses, speech therapists and physiotherapists “there are many candidates, more than the available vacancies”, the vacancies for doctors are always in danger of becoming empty. “Getting doctors for every vacancy is more difficult. But let us hope that they are not empty, because the center is attractive, for the excellent service it provides, and turns out to be attractive», believes Vítor Guerreiro.
Jorge Botelho, for his part, considered that this situation could have been avoided, with due planning. «The Algarve is a region with a lack of medical attractiveness. Therefore, we have said many times that we must anticipate these problems, launching competitions to place doctors before other regions», defended the AMAL president. Not least because situations of need are, almost always, known and have already been “signaled by the mayors”.
Even with things apparently moving forward, Vítor Guerreiro still expresses concern for the near future. "Our fear is that we don't know if another professional will come out next week," he explained, adding that, since recruitment was opened in April, "12 more professionals are already needed, in addition to the 32 that appear in the competition. ».
The meeting this Monday, revealed Vítor Guerreiro, was motivated by the lack of responses from the Government, regarding the future of CMR Sul. Minister to talk about the situation and future of the center. As I didn't get an answer, I decided to come here and invite mrs. presidents of Loulé and AMAL, to see the situation on the spot and talk to the people who work here», he said.
Since the end of the contract for the management of this health unit between ARS do Algarve and the Galilei Group, in November 2013, there have been warnings about the loss of response capacity of CMR Sul.
The City Council of São Brás de Alportel has been expressing its concern for the future of the center since then. In addition to the São Brasense autarchy, requests for action have arisen from other entities, namely AMAL, but also from opposition parties.
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