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Portuguese officials resign amid "degradation" of hospital conditions

Xinhua, January 28, 2015 Adjust font size:

Seven heads of a Portuguese hospital's emergency department resigned on Tuesday because of poor working conditions.

The hospital chiefs complained there was a "degradation" of working conditions and overcrowding of patients.

The Garcia de Orta hospital, situated in Almada, around 5 km from Lisbon, said it was taking necessary measures to face an increase in hospitalizations and would announce a series of measures.

The hospital told Portuguese Lusa News Agency this would enable the heads of the urgency unit to reconsider their resignation.

"There would not be (reconsideration) if the difficult conditions were not reversible, but the conditions are reversible," an anonymous source from the hospital's administration told Lusa.

The chairman of Portugal's Southern Regional Order of Doctors said the chiefs were right to step down.

"We are entering a situation of chaos in health and rupture in emergencies, which is pretty serious," Jaime Teixeira Mendes told broadcaster national Antena 1.

The hospital is still investigating the death of an 89-year-old woman who died last week after waiting for nine hours to be attended by emergency services.

However, the hospital has said in a note that "after a preliminary analysis, we can say that there were no non-conformities detected in the service provided to the Maria Vitoria."

Local media reported Tuesday that Guimaraes hospital in north Portugal was on the "verge of rupture," with employees complaining that there were patients on stretchers in the hospital's corridors and a lack of medicine and doctors.

Portugal has suffered cuts in several areas, including health, as part of a 78 billion euros (89 billion U.S. dollars) bailout program it signed in 2011 with the European Union, the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank.

A recent report by the National System of Health Evaluation stated that the majority of hospitals in Portugal met the clinical criteria of excellence.

However, hospitals across the country have been unable to admit new patients due to a lack of beds. Enditem