The Medical College (OM) stated this Thursday that “there will be no urgent surgery” at the Portalegre hospital “in about 20 of the 30 days of this month”, but the clinical management alludes to “serious limitations” in the service.
Contacted by the Lusa agency, the president of the Portalegre subregion of the OM, Hugo Capote, explained that “approximately 20 of the 30 days of this month of November there will be a single surgeon in the entire hospital” to provide “support.” to patients who are hospitalized.”
“On those days there is no one to care for the patients who come to the external surgical emergency and on the other days there will be because they hired external doctors,” he explained.
According to the OM representative, in these “around 20 days”, at the Dr. José María Grande Hospital, in Portalegre, “any patient who arrives and needs surgery will have to be transferred to another hospital.”
For this reason, he warned, “users should not go” to the Portalegre hospital if they need urgent surgery, “because they will lose time.”
In a statement sent this Thursday, the Portalegre Subregion of the OM informed the population of that district that, “most days in November there will be no urgent surgery at the Portalegre hospital” and advised the population to “find another hospital unit.” near the place of residence.
This decision is due to the unavailability of the doctors from the General Surgery Service of the Portalegre hospital to work more overtime and there is no agreement between the medical unions and the Ministry of Health.
In statements to Lusa, Vera Escoto, clinical director of the Portalegre hospital, belonging to the Local Health Unit of North Alentejo (ULSNA), recognized “serious limitations” in surgical emergencies this month.
According to the clinic, as of this Thursday, “13 of the 30 days of the month are covered with urgent external surgery” for 24 hours, while the urgent internal surgery – that is, a surgeon hospitalized for 24 hours a day during some urgent situation: “it is guaranteed for the whole month,” he said.
“In these 13 days I have a complete team, with two surgeons, and I can have the external and internal emergencies open. In other cases where we will only have one surgeon, during hospitalization there will be significant limitations and most patients requiring urgent surgical care will have to be transferred to another unit,” he explained.
The clinical director indicated that, if necessary, users will be transferred “to the Santa Luzia Hospital, in Elvas”, also from the ULSNA, or to another unit in the hospital network, but refused to admit any closure of surgical emergencies in Portalegre. .
“We are working as a network and we have triage and a surgeon, who says if the patient should be admitted or operated on, and then, on days when there is not a complete team, he sends him to another unit of the hospital for surgery. . If it is a life-threatening situation, you can even call a surgical colleague if necessary,” he admitted.
Warning that this is “a dynamic situation,” Vera Escoto said that, to guarantee the days on duty this month for emergency services, she has already managed to “form doctors who provide services, but not for every day, nor for each shift.” ”, although He continues to try: “I am still looking to fill the gaps.”
But, due to the limitations, “the population should always call Linha Saúde 24 before going to the hospital emergency room,” warned the clinical director.
Source: Observadora
