Ruling || In a bid to ensure all “urgent care” patients are attended at casualty units up and down the country, the ERS health regulation authority has issued a new edict that rules that no one should be turned away from any health centre without medical attention. Fines of up to €45,000 are threatened, but doctors are reported to be unimpressed.
Reporting on the new measures, Diário de Notícias writes that health professionals claim they are doomed to failure as there is simply a lack of personnel equipped to deal with demand.
ERS’ announcement followed stories up and down the country of patients queuing up before dawn outside health centres, desperate to make sure of medical attention.
