This Monday, the president of the city council, Barreiro, classified the situation of emergency in gynecology and obstetrics in the Setúbal peninsula as “very worrying” and warned that a fundamental strategy based on a broad political consensus is needed.
“As with the new airport, the National Health Service also deserves a broad consensus on a structural path that includes the assessment of professionals and the improvement of working conditions,” Frederico Rosa told Lusa.
There are three hospitals on the Setúbal Peninsula: São Bernardo in Setúbal, Garcia de Horta in Almada and Nossa Senhora do Rosário in Barreiro, branches that serve the nine municipalities of the Setúbal District (Almada, Setúbal, Seixal, Sesimbra, Palmela, Montijo, Moita, Barreiro and Alcochete), with a total population of 808,689 inhabitants according to the 2021 census.
According to the emergency schedule published on the National Health Service (SNS) portal, the gynecology and obstetrics emergency departments of the São Bernardo Hospital, the Nossa Senhora do Rosário Hospital, the São Francisco Xavier Hospital in Lisbon, the Caldas da Rainha Hospital and the Santo André Hospital in Leiria closed at 11:30 p.m. on Sunday.
This week, Thursday and Saturday will be the days when the most gynecology emergency departments will be closed – seven in total.
The pediatric emergency department at Barreiro Hospital will also be closed this Monday.
The Santa Maria, Lisboa and Garcia de Horta hospitals will also only accept specified cases, that is, those reserved for internal emergencies, cases referred by the Patient Emergency Centres (CODU) of the National Institute of Medical Emergencies (INEM) and through the SNS 24 line.
Frederico Rosa warned that this was not just a local problem and that the issue “cannot be solved with band-aids” and needed to be rethought as soon as possible and in the long term, or risk repeating the problems a year from now.
“This is a fundamental issue that must be treated with the necessary seriousness to give people peace of mind and guarantee the predictability of the system,” stressed Mayor Barreiro.
The municipal president rejected the call for a “broad political consensus”, warning of the need for social networks to adapt to the new reality of coexistence with the private system.
According to data from the General Services of the Ministry of Health (SPMS) sent to Lusa on Friday, the SNS Grávidas line, part of SNS 24, responded to 16,141 calls between June 1 and July 26, of which 8,268 calls were related to screenings that took place in June.
According to SPMS, over the two months, some 2,490 users were referred to primary care services and 11,209 to hospital emergency services, and 246 people were referred to INEM.
The data also shows that more than 13.5% of pregnant women were advised to continue self-care activities.
As for the number of services provided by SNS 24 in the first eight months of the year, the data shows that they amounted to 1875.56, which is 9493 less than the same period in 2023.
According to the figures, 610,941 users were referred to emergency hospitals and 461,379 to primary care.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Sandra Hansen, a news website Author and Reporter for 24 News Reporters. I have over 7 years of experience in the journalism field, with an extensive background in politics and political science. My passion is to tell stories that are important to people around the globe and to engage readers with compelling content.