The gynecology/obstetrics emergency services and the birth ward at Hospital de Beja will be closed between 8 hours this Friday and the 8 hours of Monday, day 2 January.
According to the Contingency Plan defined by the Commission for Monitoring the Response in Gynecology/Obstetrics and in the Delivery Block, designated as the second phase of “Born Safely on the SNS”, those services will be closed between 08,00 hours this Friday and the 08,00 hours of Monday. Conditions that have already led to the services at Hospital de Beja being closed during 24 hours, entre as 08,00 horas do dia 25 and the same time the next day.
According to data provided by the Local Health Unit of Baixo Alentejo (ULSBA) the services of the UG/OeBP, operating on the 5th floor of Hospital de Beja, are at the level 3 “in which they are enclosed, just maintaining support for hospitalizations and emergency support for the general emergency service”, adding that “it will only be necessary the physical presence of a surgery specialist for emergency situations”, concretized.
The ULSBA justified that “only pregnant women whose deliveries are imminent and who came by their own means will be assisted by the services of the UG/OeBP of the Hospital de Beja. The woman in labor will be attended to and the delivery will be carried out safely. DE to point out that the entire nursing team (midwives nurses) stay in service”, adding that “INEM and CODU are advised not to transport pregnant women to the services”, summarize.
Pregnant women who are not assisted will be referred to Hospital do Espirito Santo, Evora, one of the two maternity hospitals operating without interruption in the Alentejo, the other will be in Portalegre 200 kilometers.
2019 foi o "terrible year"
In that year, the Gynecology/Obstetrics Emergency and the Delivery Block (UG/OeBP) Hospital JosĂ© Joaquim Fernandes (HJJF), in Beja, due to lack of specialist doctors, closed on six occasions, between two and four days at a time. Pregnant women who arrived at the HJJF had to resort, by own means, to the services of Hospital do EspĂrito Santo, Evora, a mais de 80 kilometers away.
On 13 August 2019, a pregnant woman in an emergency situation was transported by her husband in her own vehicle, after a doctor had refused the registration of women and the consequent observation. An hour after being admitted to Hospital de Évora, she gave birth to a girl, with 3,400 pounds.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
