Measure wants to respond to insufficient support to pregnant women on the southern margin of the Tagus. Pilot project is underway, but emergencies continue to close.
The obstetric emergencies of the Barreiro unit will end. Now the service will be reserved for Garcia de Orta Hospital in Almada.
According to the advance, the change will bring the appointment of new administrations to these two hospitals. But the changes are not here.
The government will create a maternal and child center of the Setúbal Peninsula, which will bring together obstetric professionals, technical means and SOS care. The measure is trying to respond to the problem that has affected the southern margin pregnant women, who have had several times – including this week – obstetric emergency services closed in the three hospitals.
The chairman of the National Commission of Women, Children and Adolescents, Caldas Afonsoexplains that the proposal, already presented to the Minister of Health this week, will have a “answer soon”. “It will be a upgradewith a majority and the distribution of the activity, ”says the doctor.
“Barreiro will have the accompaniment, exams and some programmed births and Almada will centralize the most differentiated activity and all urgency, which includes the necessary professionals,” explains Caldas Afonso.
The pilot project of urgency in obstetrics exclusively referenced began at the end of last year in other regions, including Lisbon and Tagus Valley, but not on the Setúbal Peninsula, due to lack of procedures, explains the doctor.
“They committed to start in January and always keep at least two urgencies open, but was not fulfilled and early on the year were all closed,” he says. “We knew that The Setúbal Peninsula would be the most complicatedGiven the lack of resources ”This is why, with the ending situation of emergencies this year, it had to be found“ a solution to respond, security and ensure continuity ”: the new center.
Still, those responsible for the hospitals of Barreiro, Almada and Setúbal guarantee the express that the referenced pilot project referenced It has been underway since the beginning of 2025.
No one can, therefore, justify the still recurring closure of the three obstetric urgencies. Internal sources point to lack of coordination.
