Emergency care security without internal medications and surgeries on holidays and weekends

There will be no internal medicine or general surgery services at the emergency department of the da Guarda Hospital tomorrow and on all Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays in the month of November, the local health unit Guarda (ULS) announced this evening.

In its statement, ULS da Guarda adds that this Wednesday, November 1, there will also be restrictions in the emergency obstetric department of the da Guarda Hospital.

Users requiring “differentiated care in internal medicine and general surgery will be referred to referral hospitals,” the statement said.

ULS advises users to “contact the 24 Health line in advance” and reiterates the call that “they should only go to the emergency department in truly urgent cases.”

Emergency services director Adelaide Campos has already warned of worsening emergency department restrictions due to doctors’ inability to work overtime in November.

After internal medicine specialists were the first to express their refusal to work additional overtime, doctors from other specialties made the same decision.

In early October, the director of the emergency department warned that the situation could turn out to be catastrophic, in her own words, given that the da Guarda hospital is located in an area with “a very limited number of doctors.” “and with a large number of hospitalized patients requiring care.

“These people will need serious help once the cold weather hits. The number of respiratory infections will double and triple. These people will need a lot of support from the NHS, which is not currently in a position or operating capacity to do all it can. fill these gaps,” he emphasized then.

The Guarda Hospital is integrated into the Guarda ULS, which covers 13 municipalities with a total population of 150 thousand people.