On paper, it’s a “victory”. Socialists fighting the transfer of services from Portimão hospital to Faro have won a court ruling that effectively bars health chiefs from any further streamlining. But, in practice, the decision opens a whole new can of worms that could see the region’s healthcare plunged into further confusion.
“The court has said doctors in Portimão should no longer be obliged to travel to Faro Hospital to carry out various specialities,” hospital administrator Pedro Nunes explained. “This also means I can no longer oblige doctors in Faro to work in Portimão – where there is a serious shortage of doctors.
“I will simply have to hope they agree to continue travelling,” he told us. “If they don’t, this ruling effectively prejudices the people of Portimão. It doesn’t help them at all.”
At issue is the health service reorganisation that Nunes has been pursuing since taking over as regional hospital chief last summer.
Socialists led by Portimão Mayor Isilda Gomes contend Nunes’ decisions have done nothing but damage to local health services. An injunction served last September – backed by numerous protests and petitions signed by hundreds of healthcare professionals – has now been upheld by Loulé’s Administrative and Fiscal Court.
Said Gomes at a press conference to present what has been billed as a people’s victory: “We had an excellent health service in Portimão. All we want is to get back to what we had before this reorganisation.”
Pedro Bastos Rosado, the lawyer spearheading the fight, told the conference that the situation basically boiled down to the question: “Up to what point can people’s healthcare be damaged?”
“And what the court has said is that there are a series of acts and omissions here” that mean Nunes’ reorganisation translates into the Algarve’s healthcare being damaged.
Now, said Rosado, citizens as well as the Câmara will continue the fight. The injunction victory will be followed by a “principal action”.
“After a decision like this, there has to be a principal action”, which could come any number of ways. “It is good that people can seek redress in the courts, even if only as a last resort”.
Reporting the press conference, Sul Informação said Gomes is now prepared to go “to the limit” to ensure “all the original conditions in Portimão hospital are restored”.
But as Pedro Nunes explained, the planned transfer of orthopaedic, otolaryngology and ophthalmological services has not gone ahead – and “now of course, it won’t”.
“It is very frustrating,” he told us. “It really is not up to courts to run hospitals. The organisation of the country’s health service should be a technical matter – not an issue filled with these kinds of confusions.
“We have a plan to make things better, but we cannot put it into practice – and, in the meantime, we’re losing time.
“Just to give you an example, we have nine cardiologists in Faro and none in Portimão. The Loulé court’s decision effectively stops me sending one of those cardiologists to see patients in Portimão. I cannot see how that secures patient care in the Algarve.”
Nunes has always maintained that the reorganisation of the Algarve’s health service is being hampered by political posturing. “Politics has no place in healthcare,” he reiterated.
It now remains to be seen how last week’s court ruling affects the already highly-charged arena of Algarve state health provision.
As the dust settles on this “people’s victory”, a report by the association of operating theatre nurses reveals that every year as many as 170 people die “unnecessarily” in surgeries throughout the country. In 20% of cases, deaths are due to “lack of availability of professionals, accumulated exhaustion or a lack of the adequate number of professionals at the adequate moment” (see story on facing page).
By NATASHA DONN
news@algarveresident.com
Hospital “victory” opens new can of worms
