Protest on Saturday over the closure of Chavez’s hospitals

The Intermunicipal Community of Alto Tamega and Barroso (CIMAT) called a protest on Saturday in Chavez against the expected closure of hospitals in November, announced on Tuesday.

CIMAT’s decision is due to the “high risk of closure, as of November 1, of the pediatric emergency service and the emergency medical service in general, as well as the orthopedic inpatient service in the Chávez Hospital Unit”, which is located at the Tras os Montes and Alto Douro Hospital Center (CHTMAD)

The intermunicipal community, which brings together the municipalities of Boticas, Chavez, Montalegre, Ribeira de Pena, Valpacos and Vila Poca de Aguiar, in its statement called for “the mobilization of the entire community in defense of a constitutionally enshrined right, the right to health.”

CIMAT, which met on Tuesday, also decided to request an urgent hearing with the Health Secretary and the Chief Executive of the National Health Service (SNS).

On Monday, the president of the Chamber of Chavis, the socialist Nuno Vaz, warned of a critical November at the hospital in this city due to the unwillingness of doctors to work overtime in addition to the 150 required by law that could become pediatric. Emergency, inpatient, orthopedic and medical-surgical emergency services were affected.

The mayor fears a significant loss of response capacity in this hospital unit, which serves the municipalities of Chávez, Boticas, Montalegre and Valpasos, and warned of “limitations and overload” resulting from the concentration of services at the CHTMAD headquarters in Vila Real.

On Tuesday, the chief executive of the National Health Service warned in an interview with newspaper Público that unless doctors reach an agreement with the government, November could be the worst month in 44 years at the SNS.

Fernando Araujo believed that doctors should defend their rights, “but in an ethically impeccable way.”