The ophthalmology clinic Hospital dos Capuchos will move to Gama Pinta

The outpatient ophthalmological activity at the Hospital Santo Antonio dos Capucho will begin from the second half of the year at the Gama Pinto Institute in Lisbon, the person responsible for the service told Lusa this Sunday.

The transition of the service follows the merger in January of the Dr. Gama Pinto Eye Institute with the local health unit of São José (ULS), which also includes the Capuchin Hospital, a process carried out gradually in conjunction with all medical institutions. professionals.

In an interview with the Lusa agency of the Gama Pinto Institute, the director of the ophthalmology service of the ULS San Jose, Rita Flores, explained the changes that will take place in the service she heads, which will now consist of the San Jose hospital. a center dedicated to emergency care and hospitalization, and through the Gama Pinto Institute center dedicated to all outpatient activities.

Children and young people of pediatric age who were treated at the Gama Pinto Institute during consultations and operations will be gradually transferred to the Don Estefania Children’s Hospital from January.

The Emergency Ophthalmology Department is located at the São José Hospital, which is integrated into the Lisbon Metropolitan Emergency Department and operates “24 hours a day, seven days a week in conjunction with the Santa Maria Hospital”, where hospitalization and surgery are carried out on more complex patients requiring intensive care. therapy.

“The Gama Pinto Institute has all this charm, this grandeur and quality of services, but it lacks the challenges – for example, being tall, short, fat or thin – where it is located, some isolation, some difficult accessibility. , especially for quick access, and it is impossible to place an intensive care team here,” explained Rita Flores.

The San Jose Hospital will also maintain an “Injection Clinic” that will allow users to undergo examinations and intravitreal injections for the treatment of eye diseases on the same day.

Faced with concerns from users and even health workers that Gama Pinto, a 136-year-old institution, could close, Rita Flores assured that the institute would maintain “all services.”

“Patients are attached to their doctors and also to the homes they frequent, and this is completely legal, but we are not going to close it and we are not going to destroy anything in Gama Pinto,” he stressed.

Rita Flores explained that the migration of specialists, patients and equipment will take place from Hospital dos Capuchos to Gama Pinto, which “will be equipped with all specialties.”

Due to lack of space, he said, “it was not possible to accommodate the doctors, technicians and all the patients from Gama Pinto to Capuchos, but the opposite direction is possible.”

We simply want to improve and place Gama Pinto at a higher level in the hierarchy of health services, which benefits from its size and because it includes professionals who, I think, will only be appreciated,” he emphasized.

On the other hand, Lisboa Central is also “particularly fortunate now” to be able to supplement itself in areas where it was not so strong, “with a combination of professionals and schools.”

“We had this advantage and I see it as a huge task. We want to unite professionals with different experiences” and make the service “much richer.”

The Capuchos afternoon ophthalmology consultation has already moved to Gama Pinto, where minor work is underway to create facilities to accommodate specialists and patients, such as new offices and the relocation of waiting rooms.

According to the specialist, “full unification” of services will occur only in the second half of the year, with a forecast for July, since it is necessary to standardize IT systems, which are different, and correct operating conditions. room closed due to problems with the boilers and refrigeration system, the situation will soon be resolved.