Since yesterday, the “Estrela do Mar” Family Health Unit, in Quarteira, has had new facilities, located next to the Health Center extension, which will allow this “paradigmatic” unit, which has 12 thousand users, to have more capacity Give me an answer.
The facilities inaugurated this Tuesday are temporary and will «give better conditions to users of this USF», according to Loulé City Council, which carried out the work to expand the health extension.
The intervention «involved the creation of a new block measuring around 200 square meters, where seven new medical offices and a treatment room were created, an investment by the Municipality of Loulé budgeted at around 200 thousand euros».
On the same day that he inaugurated these new facilities, Vítor Aleixo, mayor of Loulé, who more than two decades ago inaugurated the Quarteira health extension, announced that the Municipality is already working to «provide Quarteira with a building from scratch , to house the services that are installed in this USF».
«Quarteira has grown a lot in recent years, it attracts a lot of people from many places for different reasons. They live here, work here or spend the rest of their lives here and need health care», noted the mayor.
Rui Lourenço, coordinator of this USF, who has worked in Quarteira since 2011, recalled during the inauguration that, when he arrived, the Health Center extension only had eight doctors and currently there are 18 professionals working there. «We practically have no users without a family doctor», he noted.
USF “Estrela do Mar” has existed for around a year and a half, during which time «the team managed to work in difficult conditions».
«Today we put another stone in what is the reform of primary health care. During this period we managed to greatly improve our performance, developing a project of great autonomy and responsibility», explained Rui Lourenço.
The doctor also highlighted the fact that Quarteira has been, for more than a decade, «an example» in terms of health centers as a «space for work and university teaching, both in the area of nursing and in the area of medicine» .
This has already made it possible to retain young doctors «who passed by and stayed here».
Vítor Aleixo, who opened the Quarteira health extension more than two decades ago, wants to replicate «this good experience» in the health building that is under construction in the city of Loulé.
«The facilities, in themselves, will be able to attract interest and be a motivator to have more young doctors there», he considered.
Present at the session, Rubina Correia, clinical director for primary care at the Algarve Local Health Unit, highlighted the importance of proximity services «always keeping in mind the best for the citizen and the efficiency of the NHS».
«Primary health care is the cornerstone of the Portuguese health system and must be empowered, recognized and supported as the Municipality of Loulé did here. Therefore, it is important to take care of all professionals on the ground, all facilities, retain and capture more human capital for the region», he assured.
João Ferreira, president of the recently created Algarve Local Health Unit, spoke of the importance of this proximity evident in “Estrela o Mar” and the path he wants for a region “that constitutes a unique reality”.
«We want people to be treated in the appropriate places, but we have to provide conditions. We want those who study with us, our professionals who are learning, to find their place here. We have the availability to hire them…”, assured this official, in what was his first public intervention in this new position.
Throughout yesterday João Ferreira and José Almeida, Clinical Director of ULS, accompanied by the municipal executive, “visited various locations in the municipality of Loulé to take “an x-ray” of the public health services existing in this territory, namely in the city of Loulé , in Boliqueime, Quarteira and Almancil».
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