The Algarve’s hospitals can look forward to a boost in doctors as 121 junior medics have chosen to finish their training in the Hospitals of the Algarve Group led by Dr Pedro Nunes.
The new junior doctors attended a welcome reception on Monday at Portimão hospital where members of the board welcomed those who have chosen to complete their training in the Algarve.
A reported 150 such trainees are due to start in the Algarve in the next few months, the only problem is accommodating this welcome boost to numbers as the high number of requests for accommodation in Faro may limit the number finally accepted.
Today the Association of Hospital Managers commented that the lack of human resources in health care is a major factor to problems of congestion in some hospitals.
"We have looked at this situation with natural concern and dismay, given some fatal outcomes for patients waiting in emergency rooms," said the president of the Portuguese Association of Hospital Managers.
Marta Temido warned of the cyclical nature of demand as there are times of the year, as in the winter months, that there are long waits in emergency rooms and congestion in hospitals.
"You can not say they are unforeseen situations. These are situations for which services should be able to respond, because they are not big emergencies or disasters, they are just peak times," she said.
Temido believes this is a problem due to a lack of planning as it is entirely predictable.
The Order of Physicians said that Portugal lost more than 400 hospital beds last year which contributed to congestion in hospitals from the "north to the south of the country."
The Ministry of Health admits that emergency admissions are higher at this time of year but believes that this winter "many services are responding very well," while others, "have greater difficulty."
"Those who have greater difficulty are in large urban centres, but not all those in urban centres face problems," according to the ministry.
Whatever the reasons for poor response times, the Algarve should soon see junior doctors swelling the ranks of much stretched medical staff across the regional health service.
