Government invests much-needed 2.8 million in Faro and Portimão Hospitals

The Government will invest 2.8 million euros in the Hospitals of Faro and Portimão. The announcement was made by Jamila Madeira, Secretary of State for Health, on Monday. The Algarvian official, who was in Faro for a meeting with the Board of Directors of the University Hospital Centre of the Algarve (CHUA) in subsequent contact with press confirmed that this investment will be divided between Faro and Portimão.

For Faro Hospital, the investment will be used in order to fund new TAC equipment, pending only the works to remodel the space where the equipment will be installed. Furthermore, this week a new section for the Analysis and Clinical Pathology Service will begin operating. In addition, works in the Emergency Department and remodelling of Cardiology unit are planned.

In Portimão, for example, there will be interventions in the Psychiatric Emergency Room. Speaking to journalists, the Secretary of State said that this investment is extremely important, and “objectively, the investment had to happen”.

“We have a set of initiatives that show a sign of concern regarding the resources here at the CHUA”, she said. Asked if these investments are nothing more than a form of palliative care for a healthcare system that is in crisis in the Algarve, Ms. Madeira shot down the comment.

“2.8 million in medical equipment, plus a TAC, the renovation of the entire cardiology service, the requalification of A&E, and the sterilization centre … I don’t think they are palliative”. These are, in the opinion of the Algarvian MP, “critical investments to provide an increasingly more empowering response” to hospitals, although some may agree that the money could be better spent.

Confronted with the recent complaints from the PSD party about the lack of surgeons on the roster, Ms. Madeira revealed that, this week there will be a meeting of António Sales, another Secretary of State for Health, with the administration of CHUA, and as such “that issue may have developments”. At the end of last week, a letter signed by 10 young surgeons to the director of the Surgical service was also in the news, asking for the regularization of salary scales. “Human resource issues are not my concern, but there is a legislative process underway which will shortly be answered,” she added.

Even so, she insisted on considering that “there has been a substantial reinforcement of professionals, whether doctors or nurses”. “We have about 40 new doctors, more than 100 nurses and, therefore, we have very expressive numbers of reinforcement of human capital”, she concluded. For all that Ms. Madeira is claiming, it seems that much of it is nothing more than a dismissal, thought I suppose only time can tell.