«In 2022, the Maternidade de Portimão was closed one in every five days!» denounces Cristóvão Norte, president of the PSD/Algarve, in a statement in which he considers that the «balance of the year is terrible» in terms of health in the Algarve.
«The year 2022 was terrible for health services in the Algarve», stresses the leader of the Algarve Social Democrats, adding that there was «a degradation of human resources in various specialties - from the outset, paediatrics, the maternity of Portimão was closed one in five days – and to an increase in waiting times for access to consultations and surgeries, being, at the moment, on waiting lists, with the maximum waiting time guaranteed by law exceeded, close to 12000 Algarve residents ».
For ophthalmology, for example, «it takes about three years for a consultation», reveals Cristóvão Norte.
And to these users, «surgery vouchers are being issued to be operated on in other hospitals, with many giving up, as they are sent to the north of the country, since CHUA’s debts of millions lead to private hospitals based in the Algarve refuse to provide this service".
On the other hand, despite the increase in medical procedures – according to the CHUA administration -, «the degradation of the emergency service, perhaps due to the inability of health centers to respond, leads to a perception of rupture and chaos in the services, trust that has not yet been restored".
The new Hospital Central do Algarve is “at square one, with no guarantees of moving forward, although the order for the presentation of a proposal is a sign of some hope, which has been denied over the last few years”.
According to Cristóvão Norte, president of PSD Algarve, “an emergency plan is vital to provide the Algarve with human resources adequate to the volume of requests. It is a tragedy to see that we have flashing emergencies, maternity hospitals closed due to lack of doctors, patients suffering from a lack of strategy, organization, a depletion of the ability to recover nuclear services. We hope 2023 will be different. It has to be different”.
The PSD Algarve concludes its communiqué by wishing that 2023 will be «the year focused on health – at least the first steps -, for the good of the people of the Algarve».
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