The management of the Algarve Hospitals Group denies there has been a tuberculosis outbreak at Portimão Hospital and that recent reports are just scaremongering.
The head of the National Council of Nursing suggested earlier this week that 10% of nurses working in the emergency department in Portimão Hospital had contracted TB.
The Algarve Regional Health Board denies there has been a tuberculosis outbreak at the hospital and that only one member of the nursing staff has been confirmed as having TB.
"There is no outbreak of tuberculosis, or any threat to public health or to health care professionals at the hospital in Portimão or the general public," said the regional health board spokesperson Ana Cristina Guerrero.
There is only one confirmed case that was diagnosed in May 2015, and treatment was given, according to Dr Pedro Nunes of the Algarve Hospital Group, adding that there is a second case that has not been confirmed but preventive treatment is being administered anyway.
Ana Cristina Guerrero insisted that none of these cases were as stated by the nursing union chief, calling his pronouncements, "unnecessary scaremongering."
The Algarve Hospitals Group said today that they "understand the concern" of the president of the National Council of Nurses, but cautions that the statements were "without confirmation" and therefore "only encouraged unnecessary alarm among the population" and generated "unfounded suspicion" in relation to the Algarve’s health services.
See Thursday's report: http://www.algarvedailynews.com/news/7196-nurses-in-portimao-hospital-10-have-tuberculosis
