Boleiro promises structural work in Ponta Delgada to guarantee a “new hospital”

Azores PSD leader José Manuel Boleiro promised this Thursday that the regional government will “rehabilitate” the Hospital divino Espirito Santo (HDES) and then promote structural works that will allow Ponta Delgada to open a “new hospital”.

“What is necessary is to ensure rehabilitation first and then, yes, strengthening the capacity of the hospital on the basis of what I have emphatically called what, while not a new hospital, is a new hospital,” he also told the leader of the Azores government (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM).

José Manuel Bolheiro defended the importance of structural work at the Ponta Delgada hospital to provide “another capacity and differentiation” in the department, which was rendered inoperable by the fire that broke out on May 4.

“It is necessary to guarantee a different capacity and differentiation not only in terms of the number of facilities’ capacities, but also, obviously, in differentiation. This must be done,” emphasized the Social Democrat, who spoke at the parliamentary days of the SDP/CDS-PP/PPM Coalition, which took place in the parish Council of San Pedro in Ponta Delgada.

Called by journalists to detail what is planned for the HDES, the President of the PSD in the Azores rejected the “trouble” of such a “complex topic,” guaranteeing the necessary work at the largest health facility in the Azores.

“I don’t want to waste time debating a place like at Lisbon airport. Preparedness is setting up what needs to be torn down, setting up what needs to be expanded, setting up what needs to be rebuilt,” he insisted.

José Manuel Bolheiro also justified the Azorean leader’s position on the “new hospital” with a biblical passage: “Make everything new,” he declared.

The leader of the coalition that governs the Azores also said that the executive branch is analyzing whether “the assumptions regarding the activation of the European Union Solidarity Fund” are being fulfilled, and recalled the “commitment” of the Government of the Republic to the situation in the hospital in Ponta Delgada.

“I had the opportunity to say that we will not rush. The Government of the Republic made a commitment in a direct conversation with Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, who instructed the Minister of Health and the Secretary of State to visit the HDES,” he said, recalling the governor’s visit two days after the fire.

José Manuel Bolheiro, on the other hand, assured that efforts are being made to achieve an “earlier return” to this department of “highest priority patients”.

“We need a design for operating rooms because urgent surgeries cannot be rescheduled in advance, and elective surgeries, their possible rescheduling, must be carried out in the least punitive manner in terms of the expected time frame,” he said.

The leader of the Azores Social Democrats also said that the Medium-Term Guidelines (a document to be voted on next week in parliament) should be “adapted” to “demonstrate” the regional government’s intention to intervene in the HDES.

José Manuel Bolheiro also criticized the “lack of maintenance” at the hospital over the years and promised to recognize all institutions involved in the HDES evacuation on the day of the fire.

“The news looks for failure and never takes the time to praise success,” he condemned.

The fire at the Divino Espirito Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada, which broke out on May 4, forced the transfer of all hospitalized patients to various locations in the Azores, Madeira and the mainland.