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After complaints about queues at health centers and the lack of conditions to wait in the rain, the Sintra City Council went ahead at the beginning of the month with the purchase and installation of sheds in all the municipal offices, but warns that « he can’t do more »and regrets that problems are not being resolved more quickly.
According to the contracts available on the Base.gov Portal, it was the first municipality to do so, with an investment of close to 50 thousand euros. “Given the chaos that exists in health centers, at least we had to do that,” justifies SOL Basílio Horta, adding that he has already requested the intervention of the Minister of Health. The mayor joins the calls that have been heard in the health sector for greater coordination, especially at the regional level. “We have to understand the enormous work and the enormous responsibility that exists at this moment and I have enormous consideration for the Minister of Health, but he must have a hand in the Ministry, especially at the regional level,” he appeals, defending “total discipline »Following the guidelines. issued by guardianship for fall / winter.
Concern has increased in recent weeks, as cases of covid-19 in the municipality have also been on the rise, but are already lagging behind. Sintra is one of the municipalities with the greatest shortage of family doctors and every year it faces limitations in accessing the emergency room of the Amadora-Sintra Hospital, a hospital designed to serve 300,000 inhabitants and which guarantees a double response. This year, with the pandemic, Basílio Horta ensures that the investment made by the municipality in the health area will exceed 50 million euros and considers that without the intervention of the cameras, the response to the pandemic in areas of competence of Health and Social Security would be a ‘disgrace’. “The Chamber has done everything within its purview. We cannot do more. In recent years we have already built health centers, some of which are paid in full by the municipality, “says Basílio Horta, giving a concrete example:” In Agualva we had the worst health center in the country, the former minister told me at that time of health. in a residential building, from a certain floor without a roof, and the doctors went out to consult. It was a perfectly third world situation. We built a health center and now we see with disgust that there are dozens of people in the queue, because there are no administrative personnel, because they do not answer the phones. It is absolutely unacceptable.
Reinforcement in Amadora-Sintra
The situation in Amadora-Sintra, one of the most pressured hospitals in the Lisbon region, accentuates the mayor’s concern. Basílio Horta regrets that a proposal made in September to the guardianship, in the sense of creating an additional service area in the hospital emergency room this winter, has not yet been carried out. «We and the Câmara da Amadora proposed to finance an addition to the emergencies, which costs one million euros. They are 75m2, it is urgent to start doing this, otherwise we can be on the edge of a chaotic situation. He was accepted by the hospital management, he was convinced that the construction began in September, but it has not been done until today ”, says Basílio Horta.
Contacted by SOL, the communications office of the Dr. Fernando Fonseca Hospital explained that a project of this nature depends on the authorization of the Ministry, since it implies not only a physical structure but the assignment of professionals, whose hiring depends on the guarantee of guardianship . At this time, the urgency of Amadora-Sintra has been 70% of the demand, without overload, said the same source. The project, however, was considered welcome given the increased influx expected for the winter.
SOL tried to understand with the Ministry if this proposal to extend the Amadora-Sintra urgency is going to materialize, since the plan foresees rearguard structures in the region, having received no response until press time. Regarding complaints about the care in health centers, the minister said this Friday that the solution requires complex interventions and that it is about “old problems of the SNS that have worsened in the context of the pandemic.” During the week, the president of the Regional Health Administration of Lisbon and Vale do Tejo indicated that the problems of this forum are specific and are being resolved.
Telephone service in health centers has been a concern and ARS has already distributed 500 mobile phones in health centers. At this time, all appointments must be made by phone. “The objective is that people call, make their appointments and there are no crowds or people in lines,” said the official.
This has been one of the difficulties in recent months, since online reservations are also limited in this period. Last week, the president of Shared Services of the Ministry of Health, this week under criticism after a computer change that led to the reduction of mailboxes of family doctors, announced that a pilot project of digital telephone exchanges would be launched . but it didn’t help where.
