Brazilians top list, followed by Bangladeshis, Nepalese and Africans
The São José Local Health Unit (ULS), which provides specialised healthcare to a geographical area corresponding to 13 parishes in the district of Lisbon – and four in the district of Loures – treated 189 different nationalities in its accident and emergency departments last year, with Brazilian citizens topping the list, with a weight of 26.6%, writes Lusa.
In a statement marking World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development, the health unit said that its three accident and emergency departments – general and multipurpose at Hospital de São José; paediatric at Hospital Dona Estefânia; and Gynaecological and Obstetric, at Maternidade Alfredo da Costa – receive “the largest migrant population living in Portugal“.
The list of foreign nationalities that most accessed the emergency department was headed by Brazil (26.6%), followed by Bangladesh (8.1%), Nepal (6.9%), some of the African Portuguese Language Countries (PALOP), such as Angola (4.9%), Guinea-Bissau (4.4%), São Tomé and Príncipe (4.1%), Cabo Verde (3.9%), followed by France (3.3%), Italy (3%), India (2.7%), Spain (2.6%) and Germany (2.5%).
“Of the total number of nationalities represented, around 80 registered fewer than 10 citizens attended,” the statement adds, stressing that São José’s ULS “seeks to implement inclusive and innovative practices that respect the diversity of the citizens it serves, within the scope of their cultural, spiritual, religious and social characteristics, and always promoting the safety of care, citizens and professionals”, recalling that in 2018 it signed the Portuguese Charter for Diversity and Inclusion, “having been the first public hospital organisation to include this partnership”.
“Since then, it has carried out sustained work with external interlocutors close to the communities that most use its health units,” says ULS São José, which points to partnerships with embassies and associations to solve communication problems and enable the treatment of patients, as well as the existence of a mediator for the Roma gypsy community since 2022, with intervention in the eight hospital units of ULS São José.
LUSA
