Pizarro inaugurated a new health extension in Almancil

The agenda for the municipality of Loulé of the initiative “Governo +Próximo”, which headed to the Algarve on the 1st and 2nd of March, focused on the health sector

Manuel Pizarro, Minister of Health, inaugurated this Wednesday, March 1st, the new health extension in Almancil. The minister also visited the future INEM regional headquarters and the construction of the University Health Center. 

The agenda for the municipality of Loulé of the “Governo +Próximo” initiative, which headed to the Algarve on the 1st and 2nd of March, focused on the health sector.

During the morning of Wednesday, the Minister of Health arrived at the site where the new regional headquarters of INEM is being built, a building that will have the Fire Station and the Municipal Heliport as neighbors.

The work is in the finishing phase, and its inauguration is expected for the month of July. There are 1,8 million euros of investment in «extraordinary facilities» which will include a space for the CODU – Urgent Patients Guidance Centre, which has been away from the region for some years, a Nursing Coordination Office, training structures, as well as a logistics and operations area.

With 42 permanent pre-hospital emergency means, a number that can reach 52 in periods of greatest need, the Algarve is, in the words of Manuel Pizarro, «a region where resource planning is difficult».

This is because, in addition to the residents, «a huge population that seeks the region mainly for tourist purposes», requires «a great effort to adapt».

«I have no doubt that the new INEM regional headquarters will greatly reinforce our day-to-day operating conditions and attract the professionals that we lack to have an even more robust response», he considered during the visit to the work.

Then, and accompanied by technicians and officials from the Municipality and INEM, Manuel Pizarro went to take a closer look at the place where the INEM helicopter is installed. The Municipal Heliport is currently being expanded, in order to allow 6 aircraft to operate here in the future.

There are 2,6 million euros to improve this fundamental infrastructure in the field of medical emergencies and first aid.

In the afternoon, the population of Almancil was waiting in droves for the government official at the door of the Health Extension to inaugurate the new reclassified space. A moment that – as the mayor Vítor Aleixo noted – brought to mind the inauguration of the headquarters of the Parish Council of Almancil, in 2001, by the then Prime Minister António Guterres.

It was on the 1st floor of this property that, for years, the services of the Board operated, while the ground floor has always been dedicated to health.

Now, the entire building located on Rua Manuel dos Santos Vaquinhas will house the Almancil Health Extension. In a total area of ​​200 square meters, the intervention to expand the health facilities included the creation of a waiting room, a reception desk and 8 medical offices.

«The people of Almancil deserve it! It is a young population, with many immigrants, many people who have no roots in the land, and health care is extremely important», said mayor Vítor Aleixo, who also thanked the Board for its support in making it possible for the work to be carried out.

In turn, the minister with the portfolio highlighted the initiative of the municipality, which cost all the works, at close to 300 thousand euros.

«We take good note of what they are doing here. Mr President, with you it is a problem because you do it!», he noted.

But before an audience made up mostly of those who work here and users, he underlined the importance of this intervention in terms of «conditions for professionals to work better, with more safety and more quality, and for people to be better served».

At this inaugural moment, the mayor of Loulé sent the minister a message from the head of this unit, the doctor Diogo Dias, regarding the request for "more doctors and nurses".

In response, the government official assured: «we will be attentive to this and we will respond, without a doubt».

But it also placed emphasis on the need to increase the training of professionals, namely with the reinforcement of the Faculty of Medicine of the University of the Algarve.

«In 2022, we admitted to hospitals and health centers in the Algarve the largest ever number of young interns undergoing training, both in general and in specialties. The first step to fixing them is to train them here. We have to create mechanisms of attraction».

During his speech, the Mayor of Loulé also noted the «extremely ambitious goals» of the Municipality in the field of health, in the areas of medical and clinical research and research into active ageing, within the scope of the two projects born of the «partnership strategic» of the ABC – Algarve Biomedical Center with the Municipality of Loulé, one in Loulé, the other in Vilamoura.

On this tour, the official also visited the Loulé Health Unit work.

This huge public investment, in the order of 5 million euros, a value shared by local government (65%) and central government (35%), will have several responses: the administrative expertise of ACES Central; the “Lauroé” Family Health Unit which, as the Mayor recalled, “operated for years in containers”; the Community Care Unit “Gentes de Loulé”; and a University Health Center, in conjunction with the UAlg, which will be the first in the country.

 

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