Protocols are being prepared with the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Norte, "so that in the first semester they can move teams to the Algarve" to help meet the needs of hospitals in the region, announced this Wednesday the Minister of Health Adalberto Campos Fernandes.
The member of Government spoke about the situation experienced in the units of the Algarve Hospital Center (CHA) during a joint meeting of the Health and Budget committees of the Assembly of the Republic, which aimed to discuss, in particular, the State Budget (OE), leaving It is clear that he considers "the Algarve a case of failure", as far as the reforms imposed by the previous Government are concerned.
Adalberto Fernandes says he wants the Hospital Center of the Algarve "to reach the summer in an atmosphere of peace" and will personally make an effort to make that happen.
The member of the Government will initiate a dialogue with the mayors and health professionals of the Algarve, next week, when he will swear in the new administration of the Algarve's hospitals, which will be led by Joaquim Ramalho.
The measure found to make up for the lack of doctors in the region, including specialists – «the hospital center in the Algarve focused on urgency and decreased the assistance response» -, is not in line with the portion of the State Budget allocated to hospitals in the region , at least in the opposition's view.
According to the social-democrat deputy elected by the Algarve Cristóvão Norte, there is a cut of 3 percent, compared to 2015, in direct transfers from the State to the CHA ("less 4,5 million euros"). “This reduction in funding – namely what is planned for personnel – will not allow us to combat one of the biggest problems, which is the chronic shortage of doctors”, he considered.
In his speech, in the discussion of the OE for Health, the Algarve parliamentarian from the PSD defended that "it is important to know the model that the Government wants to implement in the Algarve and whether this will guarantee the maintenance of valences".
The deputy from the main opposition party anticipates problems, while Adalberto Fernandes recalls what he considers to have been made in the past. The minister defended that, in the area of health, in the region, "everything was done that should not be done".
«The Algarve is a story of failure and everything that cannot be done. It cannot continue to succumb to a struggle of interests between public and private. We do not understand how the Algarve has so many difficulties, how it can live in an atmosphere of open warfare as it has lived in the last year between professionals, municipalities, hospitals…», considered the Minister of Health.
The merger of the three hospitals in the region into a single hospital was much criticized, but the biggest frictions were reserved for later, and they pitted the region's health professionals and mayors against the recently terminated CHA Board of Directors, namely its president Pedro Nunes. The mayors of the Algarve even asked for the removal of the person in charge of the Algarve's hospitals, but the previous government never complied with them.
With the entry of the PS Government, Pedro Nunes' mandate, which ended on December 31, 2015, was not renewed. However, Adalberto Campos Fernandes announced, about two weeks ago, who would soon designate a new Board of Directors for the CHA, choice that fell to Joaquim Ramalho.
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