A clinical care centre will soon be operational in Sete Rios, Lisbon, to receive cases that are not actually urgent, due to emergencies, the Health Minister announced this Wednesday.
Ana Paula Martins, who is being heard this Wednesday by the parliamentary committee on health, said that this decision will be identical to the one that will be implemented at the da Prelada Hospital in Porto.
Ana Paula Martins acknowledged that many people are turning to emergency services because there is no response in health centres, and therefore hopes that these clinical centres will be able to remove the so-called blue and green bracelets (non-urgent) from emergency situations.
He also explained that these clinical care centres will monitor patients and refer them to primary care or hospital.
The government aims to provide a family doctor to 1.7 million citizens who do not have one, a goal the minister admits cannot be achieved “in the near future.”