The PCP deputy, João Dias, warned this Thursday about the possible definitive closure of emergencies and reduction of services at the Serpa hospital, in the Beja district, managed by the local Santa Casa da Misericordia (SCM).
The doctors who work in the hospital emergency room “will no longer provide service, as of 15 [segunda-feira], because there are delays in the payment of wages“, the communist parliamentarian told the Lusa news agency.
João Dias said that the doctors at the hospital “will enjoy 15 days of vacation” in the second half of this month and “will no longer return in September”, stressing that the situation “makes the emergency operation completely unfeasible”.
On the other hand, the continuing care units that make up the hospital, he said, “they are going to transfer or have already transferred 12 patients” for other facilities located in Moura and Mértola, also in the Beja district, and Santiago do Cacém, in the Setúbal district.
If so, it is worrying because it could mean the closure of the units”, since “due to the lack of professionals, they are probably reducing the number of users to maintain the answers they have”, he stressed.
For the parliamentarian, by assuming the management of the hospital unit, Serpa’s SCM “assumed a very great responsibility, because it thought that it had a business opportunity there, but the truth is that it is not capable of supporting the size of the hospital.” ”.
The PCP deputy elected by the district of Beja indicated that he obtained this information after a plenary session of workers from the Santa Casa da Misericordia de Serpa and in conversation with professionals from the institution.
Lusa tried to contact the SCM provider in Serpa, but several attempts were unsuccessful.
In statements to Lusa, the communist parliamentarian revealed that he has already requested meetings, urgently, from the Alentejo Regional Health Administration (ARS) to the Baixo Alentejo Local Health Unit (ULSBA).
These are the entities that are in charge of supervising the execution of the transfer contract [da gestão do hospital]to inspect and monitor and audit” the operation of the hospital unit, he said.
Underlining that he wants to know the results of the audits, João Dias considered that, “in the face of the breach, which has been reiterated, by the SCM of Serpa, there are all the conditions to revert the hospital to the management of the ULSBA.”
Our vision of the hospital is that it should not be a burden for the health service in our region, but rather an opportunity to improve the conditions of access to health on the left bank of the Guadiana and in the region itself”, he said.
The PCP deputy also pointed out that, after the workers’ plenary session, he learned that the institution has “professionals with back wages” and others whose vacation allowances “still not paid as required by law”.
São Paulo Hospital, in Serpa, was managed by the local SCM on January 1, 2015 and for 10 years, under an agreement signed in 2014 between the institution, ARS do Alentejo and ULSBA.
Source: Observadora
