Executive management maintains a map of maternity wards, where 28 emergency departments are always open.

Of the country’s 43 emergency gynecology and obstetrics units, 28 will operate continuously until the end of April, two will only see referred patients and eight will have breaks due to a shortage of doctors, according to officials.

According to the Executive Directorate of the National Health Service (DE-SNS), which has decided to maintain the operating pattern in place in the first quarter, all 13 gynecological/obstetric emergency rooms in the Northern region will continue to operate uninterruptedly. .

In the Central region, seven maternity hospitals will operate continuously, one will operate intermittently, and one will have a gynecological emergency department.

In the region of Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, the most difficult in terms of filling schedules, only three emergencies will operate uninterruptedly, two will have a help desk – serving only users referred by other structures – and seven will have break days. The response will also provide emergency gynecological care, and three private sector units will be involved in addition to the response.

In the Alentejo there will be three emergency services that will operate continuously without interruption, and in the Algarve at least one of the two centers (Faro/Portimão) will always be open.

DE-SNS will be making changes to the emergency gynecology/obstetrics departments only from May.

The DE-SNS map indicates that in the Northern region, 13 emergency gynecological services and maternity hospitals will operate uninterruptedly until the end of the month.

In the center of the country, at the Local Health Unit (ULS) of Coimbra (Coimbra University Hospitals), the gynecological service will only be open in April, and in the ULS region of Leiria, the gynecological/obstetric emergency departments will be closed until the end of the month. Friday, Saturday and Sunday every 15 days.

In the Lisbon and Tagus Valley region, the ULS maternity hospitals in Loures, Santa Maria, Cascais, São José and three private maternity hospitals will operate uninterruptedly under additional operating hours and under the guidance of the Guidance Center for Pregnant Women. Emergency patients (CODU)/INEM.

Regarding private maternity hospitals in Lisbon and the Tagus Valley region that have an agreement with the National Health Service (SNS), DE-SNS emphasizes that CODU/INEM will be able to consult pregnant women in these units with more than 36 weeks of pregnancy, “as long as the installed capacity SNA is full.”

The emergency gynecological/obstetric departments at ULS Arrábida (Setubal), Arco Ribeirinho (Barreiro) will be open on a rotating basis (every two weeks), while the emergency departments at ULS Almada (Seixal) and Oeste (Caldas da Rainha) will always be closed at weekend.

The ULS in West Lisbon and Amadora/Sintra will only receive overnight pregnant women referred by INEM or SNS 24. This referral scheme operates in the ULS Amadora/Sintra all weekends in April.

In Alentejo, three departments (Portalegre, Évora and Beja) will always be open, and in the Algarve, emergency gynecological/obstetric care departments will always be open in at least one of the centers (Faro/Portimão).

DE-SNS gives a “positive assessment” of the performance of Operation Safe Birth in the NHS over the past 16 months and says the results of the strategic plan “will be continually assessed”.

In a note accompanying the April Gynecology/Obstetrics Emergency Map, DE-SNS states that the Ministry of Health’s General Services (SPMS) should adapt the SNS 24 response by “temporarily supporting referrals in gynecological situations.” pathology for the gynecological emergency service at ULS Santa Maria” and “update SNS 24 procedures to ensure adequate pre-screening of pregnant women for the presence of the mentioned labor blocks.”