Bordeira's health extensions, in Faro, and Azinhal, in Castro Marim, reopened this Wednesday, May 24, with the presence of Manuel Delgado, Secretary of State for Health. a protocol was signed between the Regional Health Administration (ARS) of the Algarve and the Council of Alcoutim.
The Bordeira health extension had been closed in November 2015 by the ARS, an entity that had then alleged “inadequacy of the facilities”. The Parish Council of Santa Bárbara de Nexe took “the works under its responsibility, having invested more than 12 thousand euros”, according to this municipality. The population itself helped with the supply of equipment and labor.
According to Sérgio Martins, president of the Parish Council and elected by the CDU, “we know what the priorities are, even when the PSD and its Government implemented their policy of closing public services and even when some officials said that the Health Center was enough from Santa Bárbara, to where there is no public transport».
"We have in Bordeira an aging population and young couples who want to settle down and who need primary health care close to them," added the mayor. This Health Hub of the Personalized Health Care Unit of Faro covers 362 users and will operate on Thursdays, from 09:00 am to 17:00 pm, with a doctor, a nurse and a technical assistant.
“We had vision and will even when others didn't. We did not lower our arms, we fought with the population, we worked and invested. With vision and will, problems can be overcome more easily and people are the winners. Fortunately, times have changed and wills have changed”, said Sérgio Martins.
In Azinhal, the same situation: Castro Marim City Council also carried out the necessary works, already completed about a year ago, in an investment «around 30 euros».
The health center of the Baesuris Family Health Unit, in Azinhal, is already operating, initially, one day a week, from 8:00 am to 14:00 pm, with a doctor, a nurse and a technical assistant, covering around 400 users.
«The closure of this health extension, as well as that of Odeleite, under the responsibility of the previous government, left an aging and fragile population destitute, with mobility problems and difficulty in accessing transport. It was inhumane and inexplicable,” said Francisco Amaral, social democrat and mayor of Castro Marim.
“This fight and this investment by the municipality was worth it. Now we are going to fight for the reopening of the extension of Odeleite», said the mayor of Castro Marim, underlining the declarations of the Secretary of State Manuel Delgado that health is a right that was withdrawn from those populations.
And if, for now, the reopening of the Odeleite extension is still just a wish, that of Vaqueiros, in Alcoutim, will be a reality, confirmed by Paulo Morgado, president of ARS Algarve, and by Osvaldo Gonçalves, president of that City Council.
«The municipality will fully support the works to adapt the space, with a project already approved and in the process of being awarded, which foresees the opening within a few weeks. After more than three years of struggle in the offices, we will again have a doctor in Vaqueiros two periods a week», revealed Osvaldo Gonçalves.
Yesterday, during the visit of the Secretary of State for Health to the Algarve, Paulo Morgado, president of the ARS, said he hoped «to end this year with more doctors, more nurses and more technicians in the ARS and this will allow us some slack so that we can provide a different and better service to populations'.
Secretary of State Manuel Delgado also took advantage of his visit to the Algarve region to inaugurate the Vicentina Community Care Unit (UCC) in Vila do Bispo, visit the “Joint Health Center Project”, in Loulé, and chair the ceremony for the conclusion of cooperation protocols with various regional entities within the scope of the “Algarve Coração Seguro” project, in Albufeira.
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