Socialist and Communist MPs today raised in parliament the matter of Loulé’s medical emergency unit, already closed twice this week due to a lack of qualified staff.
On Tuesday, and again today, the unit that has been confirmed as the responsibility of the Algarve Central Hospital group, was closed for several hours with patients asked to make their way to Faro hospital.
In today's statement, Socialist MP for Faro Miguel Freitas expressed his solidarity with locals and Loulé and São Brás councils whose mayors have been protesting at the lack of response from the authorities responsible.
Freitas said this is the third time in two months that the emergency admissions has been closed in Loulé due to a lack of doctors.
The mayors from Loulé and São Brás set up a desk at the heath centre today to discuss the situation with patients.
The conflict between the Regional Health Administration and the management of the Algarve Central Hospitals group has led to serious gaps in the Basic Emergency Services in the Algarve, according to Freitas who added that the lack of investment in general has devalued health professionals, caused the shortage of human and material resources, and has led to the strangulation of the National Health Service - particularly in the Algarve.
Earlier this week the Minister for Health ended the dispute between the two management bodies saying that these emergency admission units are down to Dr Pedro Nunes of the Algarve Central Hospitals group to manage, which includes keeping them staffed and open.
Miguel Freitas said that what happened this morning in Loulé contradicted the picture that officials gave at the recent parliamentary hearing where everything, he was told, was just fine.
The actuality is that healthcare professionals, their representative associations, and especially the patients all have indicated severe shortages of GPs (there are about 150,000 users without GP) a shortage of nurses, a continuing lack of technical assistants and operating assistants, and lastly a lack of medicines and commonly used materials.
