José Carlos Rolo, mayor of Albufeira, delivered, this Friday, 1 ventilator to the Hospital de Faro, 3 portable ultrasound scanners, two of them for VMER vehicles and one for the Albufeira Basic Emergency Service, and also a videolaryngoscope, also for use in this unit.
The equipment cost around 62 thousand euros and «it reinforces the intervention capacity of the health services and is essential to save lives in this phase of worsening of the pandemic», emphasizes the City Council of Albufeira.
The ventilator intended for use in the ICU of the Hospital de Faro it is, highlights the municipality, «a high-tech equipment, essential in the response to the recovery of hospitalized critically ill patients, and which is added to the three mobile ventilators previously offered by the Municipality of Albufeira at the beginning of the pandemic».
One of these fans is in service at the Albufeira Health Centre, while the rest are installed in the 2 Emergency and Reanimation Medical Vehicles (VMER), which operate in the geographical area between the municipalities of Faro and Albufeira.
Regarding the videolaryngoscope, the City Council of Albufeira explains that it is «a device that serves to visualize and assist in the
placement of devices in the airways, and will be installed in the SUB in Albufeira, reinforcing the support to its intervention capacity».
As for the three ultrasound scanners, one will serve the Albufeira SUB, the other will be installed at the Albufeira VMER and the last will be placed at the Albufeira VMER Faro, as they are the vehicles of medical intervention, in a pre-hospital context, that operate and serve the municipality of Albufeira.
The Municipality of Albufeira highlights that «the great advantage of this equipment is its portability: they are small, easily transportable and placed where they are needed, namely in a mobile medical emergency vehicle. The device, which is used to perform pulmonary ultrasonography, a rapid method for assessing the diagnosis of patients with Covid-19 severe pneumonia, allows for an early distinction between the most serious and lethal cases from the less serious ones, enabling more effective guidance and treatment».
José Carlos Rolo «was very satisfied and proud with this acquisition», noting that «at a time when the pandemic has substantially worsened and any of us can be infected by the virus that causes Covid-19, to have a means of diagnosis fast and
effective can make all the difference'.
José Carlos Rolo was keen to stress that this is “a pioneering system”, since these two VMER vehicles will be the first nationally to have this type of equipment.
Portable ultrasounds, explains the municipality, “allow medical teams, wherever they are, to make a quick diagnosis and send it remotely to the emergency department that will receive the patient. Its use in the pre-hospital service or in a health unit prevents the travel of infected patients for tests such as CT, which have radiation and take longer, avoiding the
contagion to other patients'.
The exams «are carried out with the patient at the place where he/she is, in the emergency room, in a context of pre-hospital intervention or even at home, as it is a portable device. It assesses the cardiac function of infected patients, controls the central vascular access and intubation of patients. It also allows you to perform a FAST ultrasound to identify any bleeding in vital organs».
In addition to José Carlos Rolo, Cláudia Guedelha, councilor responsible for Civil Protection, and technicians from the Health and Safety at Work Service of the municipality were present at the delivery of the equipment.
The Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve (CHUA) was represented by Horácio Guerreiro, clinical director, and by Patrícia Rego and Paulo Neves, executive members.
On behalf of CHUA services, Dulce Gomes, hospital administrator of the Emergency Services, Bruno Santos, medical coordinator of VMER of Faro/Albufeira and Álvaro Gomes, nurse coordinator of the Albufeira/Loulé and VMER SUB.
The ceremony was also attended by Carlos Raposo, operational head of the Regional Delegation of the South/Algarve of INEM.
