FNAM demands immediate change in health policies
FNAM, the national federation of doctors, has roared into the headlines today, following yet another case in the Greater Lisbon/ Margem Sul areas where a pregnant woman has lost a baby following treatment under the SNS public health system.
In this latest case, a 38-year-old woman with a high-risk pregnancy was being taken to Cascais hospital from Barreiro (because no obstetric unit closer could take her) and during the 60km journey, she miscarried.
Hours earlier, a 31-year-old woman suffered a similar fate, being transported again to the only hospital available to take her which was over an hour’s ambulance journey away.
Both these tragedies follow the case of a woman from Seixal who visited no less than five hospitals when already full-term with her third baby, over a period of 13 days, before being given an emergency cesarean which was unable to save the life of her infant daughter.
FNAM considers situations facing pregnant women in this country are unacceptable, and mark “a breaking point”.
Speaking to Lusa, FNAM’s president Joana Bordalo e Sá demanded an “immediate change” in health policy, holding the government fully responsible for the current chaos within obstetric emergencies.
“We demand that there be an immediate change in health policy, a change that restores dignity, security and humanity to the SNS, because what happened is intolerable and we cannot, in conscience, allow it to happen again,” she said.
“This case is not an accident”, she was referring to the incident with the 31-year-old. “It is a direct consequence of policies that are being implemented by this Ministry of Health, led by Ana Paula Martins, and, therefore, we hold it directly responsible for this tragedy”, said Bordalo e Sá, calling for an urgent reinforcement of emergency services with more doctors, acceptable career development, and putting an end to “the continuation of putting out fires”.
“If there was a prospect of being able to recover doctors for the SNS health service in an emergency way, that is what should be done,” she stressed, arguing that it is perfectly possible to hire doctors quickly, all that is required is the political will.
It needs to be clarified that crises in obstetric care and obstetric emergencies were inherited by this government. But when PS Socialists were in charge, and when there were ‘tragedies’, the minister of health resigned. Up to this point, Ana Paula Martins has doggedly refused to resign.
Equally, the Executive Directorate of the National Health Service has “guaranteed” – in the first case of the woman who was seen by five different hospitals – that everything “will have been assessed in a timely manner”.
In a statement, the Executive Directorate of the National Health Service explained that in all hospitals where the woman was observed, ‘she was assessed in a timely manner by qualified health professionals, underwent the examinations and assessments considered necessary and received the guidance considered appropriate’.
The statement also considered response provided was “congruent with the referral and access protocols in force, ensuring continuity of care throughout the user’s journey within the SNS health service”.
IGAS, the General Inspectorate of Health Activities, has said that it is monitoring the assessment of the five hospitals involved as are the hospitals’ “respective management bodies”.
Source material: LUSA/ Expresso
