The “General Staff” of the Portuguese Red Cross (CVP) was at the Beja Delegation this Wednesday morning in order to “clarify all your doubts”. The only certainty that remains is the delivery of the “Refer Building”.
Has learned the Lidador News (LN) with a source with knowledge of the process, of the meeting at which they were present, among others, the president, the vice-president and general director of the institution and the workers, there was no news about the future of Residential Structures for the Elderly (ERPI’s), the José António Marques and Henry Dunant Nursing Homes, and the Home Support Service (SAD).
According to data revealed to LN by our source, about Nursing Homes and SAD, “The conversation was more of the same. They say they are joining forces not to close and after evaluating the present scenario, the Management will come to Beja again to inform the decision taken.. They are doing, according to them, everything so that the outcome is not dismissal, but if this happens, everyone will be compensated.”, justified the interlocutor.
Taking into account that the facilities where the ERPIs operate are not owned by CVP and “in view of their degradation and the large investment that will be necessary, in spaces that are not your property, the eventuality of maintaining a Nursing Home, could involve the acquisition of a new building”, revealed to LN, without there being justification as to how, when and where.
The only guarantees given were that the Beja Delegation “will not close” and that “after being boarded up, the “Refer Building” will be handed over to its owners (Infrastructure Portugal)". Does LN know that the contract signed between the two parties, valid for 20 years and was initialed in 28 November 2012, by Luís Barbosa, the then president of CVP, to install the Nursing Home and the Home Support Service there, providing the same that “the space must be handed over to its owner in conditions for an institution to continue operating there, type ERPI". If the work is not completed, CVP will have to compensate IP ?
About the “Refer Building”, the work has been stopped and abandoned since February 2017, occupied by dozens of national and foreign citizens with no place to sleep, but also by drug addicts. In 30 November 2017, after taking office as president, Francisco George announced that “the next day 2 January 2018, the works will be resumed. You are guaranteed financing 600 thousand euros for the complete ", but if this happened, the money to invest in the works on the “Edifício Refer” did not reach Beja and the work was never resumed.
As for users, remember that yesterday, the LN revealed that in another document addressed to their families it is mentioned that they will be “contacted by ERPI’s techniques for a meeting to analyze each case. The same will take place until the end of this month”, justify.
Remember that CVP has ERPI’s that it owns in the city of Beja, 25 workers and around six dozen users and in the Home Support Service, six more employees.
Teixeira Correia
(journalist)
