Health Minister Manuel Pizarro finds it incomprehensible that hospitals have not found a system to avoid storing firemen’s stretchers.
Hundreds of patients wait for emergency treatment on fire department stretchers or even in ambulances, preventing ambulances from being used for other emergencies.
“What I really don’t understand is that we can’t have a system in every hospital where firefighters don’t have to wait until they get a stretcher. I sincerely hope that this will be resolved,” – Minister of Health. Manuel Pizarro told reporters in Cantanhede.
According to the official, this is not a general situation in the country, but rather a situation that occurs in “half a dozen hospitals,” which means that “in all others [hospitais] solutions have already been found.”
“I can accept and understand that when faced with a high volume of users, hospital professionals cannot respond as readily as we would all like. We will have to work hard to make this possible,” he said.
However, “it’s more difficult to understand that there is no system in place that allows patients to be placed on hospital stretchers, freeing up firemen’s stretchers,” he added.
The League of Portuguese Firefighters (LBP) will decide this Monday whether corporations will start charging hospitals that have ambulance stretchers, a fine that could reach 300 euros per seven hours.
A set of surcharges that will be charged to hospitals for storing ambulance stretchers is due to be approved this Monday at a meeting of the LBP executive committee.
The measure will also be one of the topics of a meeting the LBP will hold with the NHS chief executive on Tuesday.