The Santo André Hospital space will initially have capacity for 50 children and will operate according to the schedules of ULS health professionals. It is a “pioneering project in national terms”.
The Intermunicipal Community (CIM) of the Leiria Region will build a daycare center for the children of professionals from the Local Health Unit (ULS) of the Leiria Region, a investment of 1.2 million euros.
Speaking to the Lusa agency, the 1st executive secretary of the CIM, Paulo Batista Santos, said that the daycare center, with capacity, in its initial phase, to 50 childrenwill be built on land belonging to Hospital de Santo André, in Leiria.
“We reserved an allocation of around 1.5 million euros in our contract with CCDR [Comissão de Coordenação e Desenvolvimento Regional do Centro]which guarantees the full financing of this project”, declared Paulo Batista Santos.
According to the person responsible, the equipment, “reserved for the children of health professionals” at ULS, will have operating hours adjusted of the same. “We also have, for this purpose, the Social Security agreement, that is, it will [ter] the possibility of operating up to 24 hours a day”, he added.
Noting that this is a “pioneering project in national terms”, the 1st executive secretary of the CIM highlighted that it works as an “additional element so that health professionals can establish themselves [na região]especially those who are younger and have children under their responsibility.”
“Priority project for 2025”
“The project is done, it has been approved by the Leiria City Council” and the competition is ready to be launched.
According to Paulo Batista Santos, this project received “the enthusiasm and support” of the new Board of Directors of the ULS of the Leiria Region, which met today with the CIM and the presidents of the chambers of Alcobaça and Nazaré (CIM Oeste) and of Ourém (CIM Médio Tejo).
The public tender should be launched within the next 30 days, so that the work can be carried out this year. “We will do everything to make it possible, (…) but our expectation is that it is possible, because the project’s execution deadline is six months”, he stated.
According to the CIM official, this “will certainly be a priority project for the year 2025”.
The Leiria Region CIM includes the municipalities of Alvaiázere, Ansião, Batalha, Castanheira de Pera, Figueiró dos Vinhos, Leiria, Marinha Grande, Pedrógão Grande, Pombal and Porto de Mós.
The ULS area of the Leiria Region corresponds to the municipalities of Alcobaça, Batalha, Leiria, Marinha Grande, Nazaré, Ourém, Pombal and Porto de Mós. Understands three hospitals (Leiria, Pombal and Alcobaça) and 10 health centerswith an area of influence of around 400 thousand inhabitants.
In November 2022, CIM announced that it intended to invest R$700,000 in the construction of a daycare center for the children of health professionals, stating that it was the “first intercity daycare center in the country”.
Leiria is not the only district in the country with innovative measures to respond to the serious lack of places in daycare centers. Further north, in Braga, the Clube dos Pequenos opened just before Christmas, for babies up to 3 years old, open every day from 6:30 in the morning until 00:30 the following day.
The priority is to facilitate professional and family reconciliation for those who work shifts and need this type of support; the space is intended for mothers and fathers who are in Braga Hospital and the University of Minho – professionals (or students) from these two institutions will leave their children at daycare, often until the early hours of the morning.
