INEM Ambulance services in Faro were reportedly called out to transport a patient from a private hospital to the local public hospital at the weekend because of “a lack of doctors”.
Correio da Manhã newspaper reported that a woman suffering from breathing difficulties was rushed from the capital’s Hospital Privado de Santa Maria to the state hospital nearby, where she was immediately admitted to the reanimation unit.
The paper said the “lack of doctors” forced the private hospital “to call for help”.
Correio da Manhã explained that the 61-year-old woman had opted to go private as she had health insurance and “wanted to avoid” the possible long wait at Faro Hospital’s casualty department.
It was “the worst decision” she could have made, continued the story, as she endured “dramatic moments” due to the fact that the private hospital “did not have the means” to look after her.
It is a point that has been made many times by the region’s hospital administrator Pedro Nunes – currently the brunt of almost daily criticism for his efforts to streamline the Algarve’s health services.
Nunes has constantly reiterated the dangers of negative publicity, saying this can put people off going to state hospitals altogether when these are exactly the places they should be going. “We are here for emergencies. That is what we are trained for,” he told the Resident weeks ago when a tragic case of a little boy dying en-route from a private health unit to a state hospital hit the headlines.
Meantime, the weekend saw yet more protests to health service cuts in the Algarve, with a 500-strong human chain demonstrating outside Portimão’s state hospital on Saturday – backed by a number of local mayors and other dignitaries – and another protest the following day outside Faro hospital.
The citizens group behind the action (O Movimento de Cidadãos pela Defesa dos Serviços Públicos de Saúde do Algarve) was demanding the resignation not only of Nunes, but of the Minister of Health Paulo Macedo as, it said, it was he who had appointed Nunes, and the government is therefore “responsible for the policies of destruction of the Algarve’s health service”.
Responding to the weekend’s protests, the regional health authority (ARS) issued a press release affirming that the “health ministry, throughout the last three years, has given special attention to the Algarve, reinforcing and improving the capacity to respond to the region’s health requirements”.
Natasha Donn
