This Thursday, the government approved a decree-law that establishes “exceptional public procurement measures by direct agreement” after the fire that occurred at the Divino Espiritu Santo Hospital in Ponta Delgada in the Azores Islands and left the department inoperable.
According to a statement by the Council of Ministers, “in accordance with the principle of national solidarity,” a resolution was also approved which “recognizing the situation of public disaster, approves the emergency financial support necessary to restore the normality of medical care, in proportion to 85% of the eligible costs caused or incurred as a result of a fire.”
The HDES on the island of São Miguel suffered a fire on May 4, leaving it inactive and forcing the transfer of all hospitalized patients to other health facilities in the Azores, Madeira and the mainland.
The Council of Ministers, held this morning in Braga, also approved the creation of a tripartite commission between the ministries of finance and health and the regional government to “define and monitor eligible expenditures.”
In addition, a protocol on technical support will be signed between the Ministry of Health and the Regional Health Secretariat.
On Monday, the President of the Regional Government of the Azores (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM), José Manuel Bolheiro, already announced that the Government of the Republic will bear 85% of the costs of restoring the HDES.
“The Government of the Republic, namely the Prime Minister, is expected to share in the costs of the current and future work of the Divino Espirito Santo Hospital: 85% of the contribution and the corresponding advance this year of the amount is estimated [em relação] expenses that must be paid by the end of this year,” said José Manuel Bolheiro, speaking at a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the Day of the Azores.
Meanwhile, Azores Regional Health Minister Monica Seidi said on Wednesday that the preliminary cost estimate for the HDES operation this year is 24.306 million euros.
“To date, assuming that this is a preliminary estimate, which will naturally be detailed by the working group created for this purpose, the established cost, which allows HDES to assume that the services provided to the community amount to 24 million 306 thousand euros for 2024 “, said Monica Seydi during the debate on the Plan and Budget taking place this week in the regional parliament in Horta.
Hemodialysis users transferred to Madeira returned to the Ponta Delgada hospital on Wednesday, while patients in Faial and Terceira will return on Sunday and Monday, the manager said.
On the 13th, HDES has already started treating some patients in the fields of oncology and hemato-oncology.
The fire in the archipelago’s largest medical facility broke out at 9:40 local time (10:40 in Lisbon) on May 4 and was declared extinguished only at 16:11.
The fire, which is under investigation, may have originated from an electrical panel, which officials said has already been inspected.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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