Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the delivery of 12 electric vehicles to Primary Health Care (CSP), João Oliveira stated that “the biggest difference, in addition to the remodeling of the current spaces, is the creation of an operating room and a delivery room within the gynecology and obstetrics floor.”
“Pregnant women who need cesarean sections will not have to go to the central operating room, they will be closer to the service, with better care, but also scheduled gynecological surgery can be performed in this delivery room, which means that it will free up our central operating room, which is under a lot of pressure and highly exhausted in terms of capacity,” he explained.
On Tuesday, the Government authorized the Local Health Unit of Alto Minho (ULSAM) to assume a multi-year commitment up to the amount of 2,146,541.77 euros for the requalification of the delivery room at Hospital de Santa Luzia in Viana do Castelo.
According to the ordinance published on Tuesday in the Official Gazette and consulted by Lusa today, the costs resulting from the contract will not exceed 858,616.71 euros this year, plus VAT at the legal rate in force. In 2025, the value will be 1,287,925.06 euros, plus VAT.
“We didn’t start [the works] before because this ordinance was missing. The process has already been validated by the Court of Auditors. We expect the works to begin in September. The expected duration of execution was 10 months, but it could slip a bit. That’s why the expense ordinance was needed because the investment will enter 2025,” explained João Oliveira.
When asked about the remodeling of the pediatric emergency, the president of ULSAM’s board of directors said that “monoblocks are already being set up to remove [that service] from containers that are more than a decade old to allow the start of the definitive work.”
“In parallel, we are developing the definitive project for the adult and pediatric emergency. It will be a joint project,” he said.
The official added that the new Family Health Unit (USF) in Meadela, an investment of 3.4 million euros, will open to the public on Tuesday. João Oliveira added that the move of USF Tiago de Almeida to the new building will begin on Friday.
The project resulted from a partnership established through a collaboration protocol between the municipality of Viana do Castelo, ULSAM, and the Northern Regional Health Administration (ARS-Norte).
The new health equipment has 14 medical consultation offices, 10 nursing or nursing consultation offices, four consulting rooms, a breastfeeding room, a maternal-child waiting room and changing table, two multifunctional offices, also integrating treatment rooms, waiting rooms, archive, meeting and staff rooms, bathrooms, changing rooms, and technical maintenance areas.
ULSAM consists of two hospitals: Santa Luzia in Viana do Castelo and Conde de Bertiandos in Ponte de Lima. It also integrates 12 health centers, a public health unit, and two convalescence units, and serves a resident population of over 244,000 people from the 10 municipalities of the Viana do Castelo district, and some neighboring populations from the Braga district.
More than 2,500 professionals work in all these structures, of which about 500 are doctors and more than 800 are nurses.
