The São Paulo Hospital Defense Movement in Serpa (Beja) denounced this Saturday that the emergency service at that department was closed “allegedly due to lack of payment” to medical workers.
In a statement sent to the Lusa agency, the movement indicates that the emergency service closed at 3:30 p.m. on Friday, “with no opening date.”
“From what we have been able to find out, emergency doctors will only return to work after paying overdue salaries, so this service will be closed in the coming days,” the statement said.
The São Paulo Hospital Defense Movement recalls that the Serpa Hospital was “put at the mercy of the locals” in 2015, and the service has been “constantly degrading” since then.
“The situation that this hospital is in is unacceptable with the full connivance of the Ministry of Health, which, knowing about all these problems, allows the population of this municipality to come to the doors of the emergency service, and it is closed, and that the employees of the institution continue to have salary arrears,” they accuse.
The movement demands that the government “assume its responsibilities” and “immediately return” the São Paulo hospital to the National Health Service “with all the necessary specialists” for its full operation 24 hours a day.
“We do not accept that they continue to play with access to healthcare for this population,” the document also says.
Lusa contacted the Deputy Ombudsman of Santa Casa da Misericordia de Serpa (SCMS), Maria Isabel Estevens, who confirmed that the emergency service was closed from Friday at 4:00 pm and reopened this Saturday also from 4:00 pm: 00.
“The SMSF, namely the management of the emergency service, faced great difficulties in providing a 24-hour regime,” he said.
“Recently, and as a result of great efforts, excellent management and an excellent balance between explicitly financial matters and human resources, we have been able to provide here with some periodicity a schedule from 08:00 to 00:00,” he added.
According to the person in charge, this situation changes when “unexpectedly” the doctor cannot appear for a stopover or when the HCMS is not able to make payment “at the right time”.
“Today’s date, we had emergency surgery until yesterday (Friday) at 4:00 pm, today we will have emergency surgery again from 4:00 pm, tomorrow (Sunday) it will work all day, from 8:00 am to midnight, on Monday Fair, Basically, everything indicates that we will have urgent work from 16:00,” he said.
Maria Isabel Estevens emphasizes that “this is not what the institution intends to offer the public, warning that the emergency service is “intermittent” due to several “internal factors”.
According to the deputy provider, these factors are related to “difficulties” in terms of human resources, namely doctors, and the “balance” in management to pay payments.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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