Health units the length and breadth of the region have become veritable “no man’s land”, devoid of basic materials and running on sub-standard equipment, in some cases loaned from the fire department, says the nurses syndicate about the SUB (basic emergency) health units of Vila Real de Santo António (VRSA), Albufeira and Loulé.
Talking to Correio da Manhã newspaper, the syndicate’s Nuno Manjua explained that the situation has reached the point where nurses and patients have to buy material for treatments, as stocks have run dry.
In VRSA, for example, “there is only a manual ventilator to reanimate people, which is on loan from the fire department”, said Manjua.
The problems seem to come from healthcare reshuffles between the regional health authority (ARS) and the new hospital authority (CHA). The ARS confirmed to CM that there “had been shortfalls in the supply of materials” but these have now been “corrected”.
