The coordinator of the gynecology and obstetrics service at the maternity hospital, Alfredo da Costa, resigns

The Board of Directors of the Local Health Service (ULS) of São José confirmed this Wednesday that it has accepted the resignation of the person in charge of the specialty of gynaecology and obstetrics at the Alfredo da Costa Maternity Hospital (MAC).

In a response sent to Lusa, the board of directors thanked Carlos Marquez for his work and said the doctor “will continue to serve as a specialist in the maternity ward.”

The news of Carlos Márquez’s dismissal was reported by Radio Renascença, where it was revealed that the person in charge had written a letter to the president of ULS San José Rosa Valente de Matos, in which she spoke of “a high workload while maternity hospitals are breaking birth records.”

Asked by journalists during the opening of health centres in the municipality of Tondela, the Minister of Health declined to comment on the dismissal, sending an explanation to the President of ULS in São José.

Last week, Rosa Valente de Matos warned that the “great effort” being made by MAC specialists could not continue for long, recalling that on the 12th alone, when five gynecology and obstetrics emergency departments were closed, the maternity hospital delivered 25 babies, the highest number since 2013, a year when 22 births were registered on a single day in January.

“Since 2013, when MAC was integrated into the Central University Hospital of Lisbon, there have not been so many births,” the person in charge told Lusa, praising the “great effort” of the team, which “changed its holidays, its rest period, in order to be able to respond to the needs of the country and the Lisbon region at this moment.

The person in charge also asked the NHS Executive to improve coordination between hospitals, taking into account the rotational closure in case of emergencies in these specialties, bearing in mind that “MAC capacity is also somewhat limited”.

MAC recorded an average of 442 ED visits per week in August, up from the July average of 320, and an average of 13 births per day, 15 on weekends (an average of 11 births in the same month in 2023).

Santarém Hospital reopened its Obstetrics and Gynecology Emergency Department this Wednesday, a major change compared to Tuesday in the seasonal response map of hospital services, according to information published on the SNS portal at 9:00 a.m.

The Nossa Senhora do Rosário Hospital (Barreiro) is the only one in the country to have closed two emergency services (pediatrics, obstetrics and gynaecology), while in Medio Tejo, the Dr. Manoel Constançio Hospital (Abrantes) keeps its emergency obstetrics and gynaecology services closed, while in the south of the country, the only registered air conditioning facility is in Portimão, where the emergency obstetrics department has closed.

Although there are no more closures, several conditions remain: departments are classified as mentioned, services are reserved for internal emergencies and cases are referred by the Patient Emergency Centre (CODU) of the National Institute of Emergency Medicine (INEM) or through the SNS. 24.