The emergencies of hospitals in Faro and Portimão and the Basic Emergency Services (SUB) of Albufeira, Loulé, Vila Real de Santo António and Lagos “will not have a shortage of doctors” in December. The guarantee is given by Ana Paula Gonçalves, chairman of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospital Universitário do Algarve (CHUA), to the Sul Informação.
So that there is no shortage of doctors during this period, in the two hospitals and four SUBs under the responsibility of CHUA, it is necessary to hire external doctors, through the provision of services, something that had been planned since September. In other words, the hiring had already been planned and handled since September.
According to Ana Paula Gonçalves, this situation "happens in all hospitals". One of the reasons is the fact that "from 55 years old, doctors do not have to do emergency care and most hospitals have doctors with an older average age," he said.
“We work in 12-hour shifts. According to the resources we have, and the size of the teams, we organize rosters of four doctors per shift in hospitals», explained Ana Paula Gonçalves. In the SUB, the scales are of three doctors per shift.
In these, there can be either doctors from CHUA staff, with other external ones, or only doctors hired through the provision of services.
The chairman of the Board of Directors says that there is a "dynamic management", also taking into account "the right to rest", for these doctors who will work in the first line of emergency, in less serious situations.
This issue has been on the agenda after the news published by Diário de Notícias, this Monday, December 11th.
The article realizes that, «in addition to Faro, the hospital in Portimão and the basic emergencies in Vila Real de Santo António, Albufeira and Loulé also have open hours for the provision of services in at least one third of the month».
According to the DN, "it is in the Algarve, a region that suffers great tourist pressure on New Year's Eve, that the greatest problems of lack of doctors are felt in December."
This is denied by the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of CHUA, who assures that there will not be this shortage of doctors, as measures have been taken to contract services in time.
Also according to the DN, this need to provide services is for 28 days. Questioned by the Sul Informação, regarding this number, Ana Paula Gonçalves only replied that «in any unit, we have to work in a planned manner and have a minimum number of doctors».
As for the number of doctors to be hired, the chairman of the Board of Directors also did not give the exact number, saying only that "some doctors repeat themselves over the weeks."
And, despite the fact that December is a month of Christmas holidays and New Year's Eve, Ana Paula Gonçalves guarantees that “none of this conflicts with the responsiveness” of the health units integrated in CHUA.
Comments