The lack of hospital beds continues to be one of the main problems of the Padre America Hospital in Penafiel. Until mid-morning Tuesday, 53 people were admitted to the emergency department waiting for a bed. They waited on stretchers scattered along the corridors of the hospital ward.
In this department, which serves more than half a million people, lack of space has been the biggest challenge during this phase of the increase in emergency cases due to respiratory infections.
During the same period, at the São João hospital in Porto, for example, 20 users were admitted to the emergency department – some having to wait long hours for a place in the hospital. At a Braga hospital on Tuesday morning, 32 patients were admitted to the emergency department amid a “great affluence” that medical professionals are calling “the end of the world.”
A calmer situation was observed early Tuesday morning at the Guimarães Hospital: 9 people were admitted: 5 to the internal medicine department (three of whom were referred to other departments) and 4 waiting for a place for surgery.