Six obstetricians at Santa Maria hospital quit

Six obstetricians and gynecologists at Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon have resigned, including the former director of obstetrics, Luisa Pinto, who speaks in insecurity and accuses the administration of contempt.

The news was reported by the weekly newspaper Expresso and confirmed by Luce Luisa Pinto, who resigned this Friday morning after an accumulation of situations that she believes jeopardize the safety conditions of the Obstetrics and Gynecology Transportation Service.

“What held me back no longer exists. Our hospital doesn’t seem to want us here,” said Luisa Pinta, adding that despite concerns about the National Health Service (SNS), “if they don’t want us, it’s better for us to leave with dignity.”

As he explained to Luse, his decision and the decision of five other colleagues is related to the plan of the Executive Directorate of the SNA for the response of obstetrics and gynecology, which stipulated that, although the maternity ward of the Santa Maria hospital was closed, as regards work, between August and March next years – services were concentrated in the hospital of St. Francisco Xavier.

The plan was questioned by several experts, including the Director of Obstetrics, Gynecology and Reproductive Medicine of the Central Hospital University of Lisbon Norte, Diogo Aires de Campos and Luisa Pinto, then Director of the Obstetrics Service, who were eventually rehabilitated.

“Another person was appointed to head the department, and since then we no longer had the organization that we had. We started living with emergency schedules that go three or four days in advance and teams that we don’t think are safe,” Luisa Pinto explained.

“At some point, five people have already quit,” he added, stressing that in his case, the “final straw” was a detail that he understood as disrespect from the administration: “When I returned from vacation, in access to (parking) I was denied.”

“The SNS is sagging dramatically and I don’t know how you intend to support the SNS when, having a service that works at the level of excellence, from a clinical, academic, research point of view, you do it with a team,” lamented.

In contact with the Lusa agency, a source from the Centro Hospitalar Universitário Lisboa Norte (CHULN), which is part of the Santa Maria Hospital, confirmed that there were requests for termination of pregnancy, but did not specify the number of obstetricians who made such a decision.

“We do not confirm the figures and do not comment on individual decisions of specialists,” the same source said, stressing that the hospital center maintains confidence in the teams that are on the ground.