Vasco Cordeiro opens remodelling works of Emergency and Outpatient Services of Horta Hospital
The President of the Government opened today the remodelling works of the Emergency and Outpatient Services of Horta Hospital, representing another phase of the 21 million-Euro investment that has been made in health infrastructures on the island of Faial.
"The opening of these remodelling and expansion works of the Emergency Service and the Day Hospital are another step in the effort that has been made to significantly improve the conditions for the provision of health care on the island of Faial," said Vasco Cordeiro.
On the second day of the Regional Government's visit to this island, the President of the Government also mentioned that the approximately seven million-Euro remodelling works of the Emergency and Outpatient Services add up to the 14 million-Euro investment in the first phase of block C building of Horta Hospital and the construction of Faial Health Unit building from scratch, which should be completed by the end of the year.
According to him, this investment in infrastructures has also been accompanied by the growth of health professionals on the island of Faial, from 580 to 640 between 2013 and 2019, including doctors, nurses, diagnostic and therapy technicians, among others.
This evolution had practical effects on productivity, Vasco Cordeiro said, pointing out that the number of primary health care consultations provided on this island has increased from nearly 80,500 to about 89 thousand over the last three years.
In his speech, the President of the Government recalled that the growth registered in the Regional Health Service was suddenly halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the face of this pandemic, we are using some mechanisms, namely the doubling of funds available so that the three hospitals can carry out more surgeries, outside normal hours, through the CIRURGE programme, which had a budget increase of 1.5 million Euros,” said the government official.
The allocation of the Health Voucher programme also increased 1.5 million Euros, the President of the Government said, adding that, overall, there is an increase of three million Euros for surgery recovery programmes.
Vasco Cordeiro warned that, in the pandemic context we are living in the Region, the “first line of defence does not lie in the Regional Health Service, which comes into action when we are not able, as individuals, to comply with the basic rules to prevent the spread of the disease.”
"It is always important to recall this aspect, seeing that, as we cannot close our Region, companies and the Public Administration, a significant part of this responsibility falls on each one of us," said the President of the Government.
This individual responsibility is also justified by "the respect that those who are in the frontline of this fight should earn; the respect that those who often have to expose themselves to a higher risk in this pandemic should earn from us," emphasised Vasco Cordeiro.