Cape Verde has begun moving medical professionals to the islands

A program to transfer specialist doctors from central hospitals to the islands, which aims to address a number of health problems in Cape Verde, started on Monday on the island of Fogo, the Ministry of Health said on Tuesday.

“The program began on January 8 with a team of five specialists from the Dr. Agostinho Neto Hospital assigned to Fogo Island,” including urologists, otolaryngologists, oncologists, cardiologists and ophthalmologists, he said in a statement.

The first consultations, intended for patients on the waiting list, took place on Monday and also this Tuesday at the Regional Hospital of São Francisco de Assis in São Philip, Fogo Island.

The National Medical Specialist Deployment Program aims to reduce regional asymmetries caused by isolation, which leaves many populations far from differentiated care.

The move will serve to “promote universal health coverage and reduce internal movement” (between islands) of patients, with associated social costs, by “facilitating access to specialist consultations across the islands”.

The program has a simple basic structure: “The Ministry of Health transfers medical specialists from central hospitals to regional hospitals and medical delegations across the islands.”

“Every year, many patients are referred from structures on the islands to departments such as the Dr. Agostinho Neto University Hospital (Praia, the capital of the country, on the island of Santiago) and the Dr. Baptista de Sousa Hospital (Mindelo, São Vicente). island) in search of specialized medical care, both in emergency situations and in outpatient settings, including additional examinations,” he concluded in his statement.