Dental clinic in Almada closed due to lack of hygiene and safety conditions

The Health Regulatory Authority (ERS) has closed a dental clinic in Almada due to an “immediate threat to the health and safety of users,” informing the Ministry of Justice and the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA).

In a statement released this Wednesday, ERS said it had launched inspection activities in Almada, Setúbal district, with the aim of “guaranteeing the right of users to access adequate, quality and safe health care and verifying compliance with current operational requirements”, which resulted in the closure of the dental facility.

In a closed room, through “observations carried out in various locations and evidence collected”, the SER found that “compliance with the requirements for the processing of medical devices”, i.e. sterilization of instruments, in which the handling of hazardous hospital waste and “compliance with the conditions of hygiene and environmental control, as well as safety and radiological protection” were not guaranteed.

The ERS statement also stated that “the minimum breakdown required to establish this type of activity was not met.”

“Taking into account the established facts and the immediate threat to the health and safety of users, the SER has decided to immediately suspend the activities carried out at one of the inspected enterprises, based on non-compliance with the minimum requirements for the organization and operation of clinics and dental offices, as well as the unqualified provision of medical care in the field of dentistry,” the regulator said in a statement.

He also adds that the measure will be lifted when it is proven that the health risk to users has disappeared, which can only happen with the permanent closure of the establishment, ERS reports.

“The facts established were also brought to the attention of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (MP), the Order of Dentists (OMD), the Agency for Integration, Migration and Asylum (AIMA) and the Tax and Customs Authority (AT),” the regulator said in a statement.

When asked by Lusa, a representative of the ERS communications department declined to elaborate on the reason for AIMA’s participation, citing obligations to maintain confidentiality.

“All elements collected by the ERS are analysed within the framework of the competent administrative and sanctioning process, in particular with regard to compliance with the requirements for the conduct of activities, organisational and operational requirements applicable to the practice of dentistry, as well as compliance with the requirements of the Legal Regime for the Practice of Health Advertising,” the statement concludes.