A pregnant woman at risk was transferred, on August 2, from the Hospital of Faro to Amadora-Sintra due to the lack of incubators in the Algarve hospital. The premature baby ended up dying minutes after the birth, which occurred the following morning, according to the Correio da Manhã.
Contacted by Sul Informação, a source in the administration of the University Hospital Center of the Algarve (CHUA) denied any failure, assuring that «all normal procedures were followed in these cases». “The doctors felt that you should be transferred because we didn't have incubators available. She was transferred within the referral network, to the nearest hospital with availability, which was Amadora-Sintra».
The unit of Faro CHUA has 10 incubators in its Neonatology unit. But, according to the hospital source, "there are times when the incubators are full, so we have to send pregnant women to the referral network."
In official response to the questions raised, CHUA informed that, on that day, the Neonatology service of the hospital in Faro «her hospitalization capacity was full, so the pregnant woman was referred, in adequate safety and monitoring conditions», to Amadora-Sintra.
According to Correio da Manhã, doctors considered that the pregnant woman, a 23-year-old woman, had symptoms of pre-eclampsia, which put the mother and baby at risk. Therefore, they decided that they would have to cause a premature birth.
Only, with the incubators of the hospital of Faro all occupied, the woman had to be transported by ambulance to the Amadora-Sintra hospital, 290 kilometers away.
Also according to the newspaper Correio da Manhã, the birth took place by cesarean the following day, on 3 August, but the baby died.
The one who has already reacted further in this case was the PSD deputy Cristóvão Norte, who defends, in a statement sent to the newsrooms, that "the death of a baby must be investigated".
The Algarve parliamentarian considers that «mothers and babies are at risk every day in the Algarve».
Cristóvão Norte demands that the Ministry of Health order “the opening of an inquiry and ascertain responsibilities. The pregnant woman was waiting for an ambulance for several hours, the service does not have enough space or incubators, everything is too bad to be true. Thus, they have to move pregnant women far away, which in these cases exponentially increases the risks for pregnant women and babies. Several people, including myself, have warned of this. The Government did nothing».
«The Algarve suffers from a haemorrhage in health, which is not new, but which is getting worse, it does not stop. These episodes are increasingly common, an unacceptable new normal, which is no worse because there are many professionals who are committed in an extraordinary way», concludes the deputy.
A month ago, on July 7, another woman, 28 weeks pregnant, had to be transferred, at dawn, from Portimão to Évora for “lack of response in the units in the Algarve”. In this case, despite the inconveniences and risks, everything ended up going well.
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