Portugal's nursing union chief today claimed that many of his members had contracted TB while at work as Portimão Hospital has no isolation unit to halt contagion.
The wannabe President of the National Council of Nurses, José Carlos Gomes, said that 10% of the nurses in Portimão Hospital emergency department have tuberculosis.
"From the information I gathered, which needs confirmation,* we are talking about 10% of nurses who contracted tuberculosis due to the lack of an isolation unit." Gomes failed to note these were nurses in the in the emergency department.
According to the union, this is a worrying situation across the country and it underlines "the need for some investment to set up isolation units that could protect not only health professionals but also other users."
In August this year the Nurses' union said there were cases of tuberculosis at the hospital in Portimão and accused Dr Pedro Nunes, director of Central Hospitals of the Algarve, of not fully complying with the safety rules at work, pointing to the lack of an isolation room as the main cause of the spread of TB throughout the nursing staff.
Dr Nunes will no doubt be responding to the allegations in due course but in the meantime there is no cause for concern from patients as .
* José Carlos Gomes' comments did indeed need confirmation as it transpired he was referring to TB screening offered to nursing staff after one nurse was confirmed as having the disease.
