On Tuesday, September 3rd, at 4:00 PM, what we call the HDES emergency service currently operating at the Ribeira Grande Health Center will move to this new modular hospital HDES emergency service. Patients with less complex conditions, who were previously seen in that infrastructure, will be seen here,” said Mónica Seidi, the Health Secretary of the Azores, in a statement to journalists during a visit to the modular hospital.
The Hospital of the Divine Holy Spirit (HDES) in Ponta Delgada, the largest in the Azores, was affected by a fire on May 4th, which forced the transfer of all hospitalized patients to other health units, including outside the region. The damage to the infrastructure, which is gradually resuming activity, was estimated at 24 million euros.
In July, the Regional Secretary for Health and Social Security said that “by the end of August” it was expected that the modular hospital’s emergency department would be “completed” and that the rest of the process would be “phased,” with the whole project “completed by the end of October.”
According to the government official, “the structure is completed,” but the technical management warned of the need to test the circuits and reorganize teams, so the opening of the emergency department was scheduled for September 3rd.
“I cautiously assume that for us, the Regional Government, patient safety always comes first, and we prefer it to open on the 3rd with all these issues resolved and retested,” she justified.
In a second phase, two wards will be opened in the modular hospital, “which can provide some backup if there is an increase in demand,” and finally “services such as intensive care, intermediate care, the operating room itself, and an imaging room.”
“We are talking about a room that will need lead lining, and no matter how much goodwill there is, which has been taken care of in this infrastructure, it’s not something that can be done overnight,” Mónica Seidi pointed out.
The Health Secretary expects the modular hospital to be “fully operational” by the last quarter of 2024.
The HDES emergency service will be transferred to the modular hospital, but the Ribeira Grande Health Center will maintain the basic emergency unit, as it operated before the fire.
The Urgent Care Service (SAU) of the Ponta Delgada Health Center and the emergency services of the health centers in Povoação, Vila Franca do Campo, and Nordeste will also remain operational.
“We have a whole strategy in place that responds according to the level and complexity of these patients, but I want to emphasize that it is essential that before going to the emergency service, patients contact the Azores Health Line, so that there can be a better choice, appropriate to each patient’s needs, and thus reduce waiting times, if applicable,” the government official appealed.
According to Mónica Seidi, the modular hospital’s emergency department will provide “better conditions” for patients, and the transfer of the service will allow “improving the infrastructure of the Ribeira Grande Health Center.”
“We have an area that has more space, which can easily be adjusted according to needs. At the moment, we have seven armchairs and five stretchers, but if there are more dependent patients on stretchers, we can easily adapt the space,” she explained.
The modular structure will also have a minor surgery room, which will “respond to patients in the orthopedic and surgical areas” who “can be evaluated in this unit.”
“We have only two medical offices at the Ponta Delgada SAU that provide this care and, although they play a fundamental role – in July they attended to about 1,600 patients – they cannot, for example, attend to patients who arrive on stretchers,” revealed Mónica Seidi.
