Twenty-five maternity hospitals will receive 20 million euros from the government for works and equipment, some of which have been declared closed by a commission of experts, such as those in Barreira and Povoa do Varzim.
According to information released this Friday by the executive board of the National Health Service, the largest part of the 20 million – an amount that has doubled as the Minister of Health announced at the beginning of the month – goes to the Centro Hospitalar e Universitário. Lisboa North (Santa Maria Hospital), which will receive more than three million euros.
Among the selected departments out of 33 applications are the maternity departments of Centro Hospitalar Barreiro/Montijo, which will receive 836,954 euros, and Centro Hospitalar Póvoa Varzim/Vila do Conde (520,688 euros), which were two hospitals providing gynecological care. nursing and midwifery, which, according to the expert panel, may be closed “temporarily or permanently” due to difficulties in the teams.
Diogo Aires de Campos, Coordinator of the Commission for Monitoring Responses in Gynecology, Obstetrics and Childbirth Departments, heard in January by the Parliamentary Health Commission, said that the report, prepared by experts and delivered to the guardianship authorities, is a “technician’s document” to establish a hospital reference network in this area, which will still be the subject of public comment.
In statements to deputies, he explained that at the end of the document there is a list of six hospitals with gynecological and obstetric care (Castelo Branco, Guarda, Famalicao, Povoa de Varzim, Barreiro and Vila Franca de Xira), which, due to for the difficulties in the teams, namely the lack of professionals, it was assumed that they could close “temporarily or permanently” if this did not imply additional risks from a technical point of view.
According to the information released this Friday by the SNS executive board, 25 institutions have been selected for this investment for a total of EUR 20,661,174.16 (VAT included), of which EUR 661,174.16 “corresponds to the support from external sources that the candidates received, and specifically from municipalities and other organizations.”
The note adds that 33 hospitals with maternity wards applied for projects, highlighting that 89% of SNS hospitals applied for potentially eligible hospitals.
He also mentions that non-competitive birth units “have projects that have already started or are about to start, with matching funding from other programs.”
The cost of the proposals corresponded to approximately 36 million euros, half of which is for infrastructure upgrades and the rest for medical equipment.
Eligible costs under this program included the acquisition of equipment for delivery blocks and services, namely research and infrastructure intervention projects in delivery blocks and infrastructure interventions in accordance with approved functional programs, the note explains.
After Santa Maria, the Fernando da Fonseca Hospital (Amadora Sintra) receives the most funds with more than 2.8 million euros and the Centro Hospitalar Lisboa Central (Maternidade Alfredo da Costa) with almost two million.
Among the various units selected are also hospital centers in Lisbon West (San Francisco Xavier Hospital) and in the Algarve, each receiving more than 1.4 million euros, and the Alentejo Coast Local Health Unit with more than 1. 1 million.
Local medical facilities in Matosinhos (943.6 thousand euros) and Castelo Branco (more than 737 thousand euros), as well as hospital centers in Oeste (401 thousand), Leiria (467 thousand) and Vila Nova de Gaia / Espinho (255 thousand). will also be built.
The list also includes, in particular, the hospital and university center of Coimbra (587 thousand euros), the university hospital of the center of Cova da Beira (219 thousand) and the Garcia de Orta hospital (380 thousand).
The SNA Executive Management said in a statement that this is a “major bet” on the qualification of the infrastructure and related equipment of the maternity units and guarantees that it will be implemented as early as this year.