Miguel Guimarães, President of the Medical Association, considered this Wednesday, 17 July, that the construction of the Central Hospital of the Algarve is "absolutely important" because the health problems in the region "are many".
O leader of the doctors is visiting the Algarve and, in the morning, visited the Hospital de Faro, where he met with the administration of the University Hospital Center of the Algarve (CHUA) and with doctors.
After the long meetings, which lasted all morning, Miguel Guimarães defended that the construction of the new hospital would make it possible to «partially solve» the health problems in the region.
«The Central Hospital should already be built. Political power takes a long time to make decisions. Faro it was already the second priority in the new hospitals, but there is no common thread that will allow solving a situation that is very serious and that is happening in the Algarve», he considered to the journalists.
The Chairman went even further, saying that "there is no specialty where things are okay."
«Often, in the entire Algarve, there is an orthopedist, who does not comply with any minimum. Only Faro it should have four and Portimão two, but often there is one for the entire region, in the emergency service», he explained.
The problems do not stop there and extend to Maternity wards. In Portimão, for example, over the past weekends it was difficult to secure the scales, with pregnant women having to be transferred to Faro or even Évora.
“Nenatologists are in an absolute crisis. The person in charge told me, at the meeting, that there are doctors doing three and four emergencies a week, sometimes for 24 hours, which goes against the legislation itself», said Miguel Guimarães.
And the problems will continue. According to the President, in the meetings he had, he was told that the Pediatric Emergency Service of Portimão “will not be able to guarantee the next three weekends, with the team it has”.
In August, the «scale has 10 days to complete and, in September, 12. The situation is complex and pediatricians need to be found in Portimão. We ourselves are going to launch the challenge to the Specialty College and the Portuguese Society of Pediatrics».
But the truth is that the Algarve's Regional Health Administration (ARS) created incentives for doctors to come and work in the region, including with the possibility of free accommodation. So what makes clinicians still not wanting to work in the Algarve?
For Miguel Guimarães, the lack of working conditions is the answer.
“I've been talking to around 100 doctors, some of whom are already thinking about leaving. If conditions are not created quickly, giving access to the technologies and equipment they need, people look for other alternatives. Doctors are obviously unmotivated. At this moment, it is difficult to fix doctors and, if nothing is done urgently, it will be more and more», the president told reporters.
“There is a lot that is not right and needs to be corrected. The Algarve has critical situations. During the summer, the population increases and this is another problem because it is necessary to strengthen the teams that must be calculated beforehand,” he added.
Last Monday, July 15th, there was a demonstration outside the Hospital of Faro, of users, but also of (many) PSD militants. Over the weekend, there had been demonstrations in Portimão.
On the occasion, Cristóvão Norte, social-democrat deputy and head of the list of the October Legislatures, defended the possibility of creating “some mandatory character, to guarantee that the geographic distribution is verified, as foreseen in the constitution”.
Faced with this issue, Miguel Guimarães argued that "it is very difficult" to force people to settle in a place.
For the president, despite all the recent problems, users of the National Health Service must «continue to trust the professionals» who work at the University Hospital Center of the Algarve, because they have made «a brutal effort to ensure everything».
Photos: Pedro Lemos | Sul Informação
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