IGAS, the general inspectorate of health activities, has opened an inquiry following the latest story of childbirth completely at odds with a developed country.
This new case centres on a heavily pregnant woman told to go home from Hospital Eduardo Santos Silva, in Gaia, last weekend when she was already feeling contractions.
Returning two hours after she was told to go home, her husband claims the woman was refused a stretcher, told to wait in a wheelchair – and within less than two minutes, the couple’s third child made his entrance into the world, falling to the floor and hitting his head.
The infant has since been subjected to various tests, and fortunately appears none the worse for the experience. But the reality is that this should never have happened, and the parents are understandably outraged.
Father Frederico Fernandes tells SIC that he expected a little more dignity for his third child’s arrival.
The positive aspect, Brazilian Fernandes concedes, is that once his son had fallen onto the floor, “the stretcher arrived” and from this point onwards his wife and new baby were treated with “the minimum of dignity”. What he doesn’t accept is that in the hours before “hospital authorities did not listen to (his) wife”, or properly evaluate her clinical situation.
According to reports, the hospital refutes any medical negligence, but has said the circumstances of the baby’s birth “are being investigated”.
As the baby’s father has commented, the circumstances will have been caught on camera in the casualty waiting room, and were witnessed by various people present who will have been seeking medical attention at the time.
This is just the latest ‘disgrace’ when it comes to state obstetric services which have been seen to be failing for years – since long before this current government took office.
Earlier this year, a pregnant woman ended up giving birth on the pavement in Carregado, Alenquer; 32 women have given birth in ambulances (trying to reach a maternity unit that will take them) since January 1 – and two babies have died in situations where their mothers were trying to reach professional attendance.
Calls for the resignation of health minister Ana Paula Martins have been consistently rejected. As critics accept, this was not a situation that began under the minister’s watch, but she has had well over a year to fix it, and nothing appears to have improved.
Source material: SIC
