“Due to the shortage of specialized professionals, a situation that has been compromising the functioning of emergency services in the Setúbal Peninsula region, it was necessary to establish an integrated solution that would not only guarantee assistance activities, but also ensure greater predictability for users”. The explanation was given by the Executive Director of the National Health Service (SNS), Álvaro Almeida, who met at Hospital Garcia de Orta, in Almada, on the afternoon of Wednesday, March 25, with the presidents of the three Boards of Directors of the Local Health Units of the Setúbal Peninsula (which comprise the Garcia de Orta, Nossa Senhora do Rosário and São Bernardo hospitals), to sign the cooperation protocol that creates the Regional Emergency (Centralized) for the Gynecology-Obstetrics area in this region.
According to the executive director, “the centralization of emergency services in Gynecology and Obstetrics eliminates the previous instability in the functioning of these services in the region”, considering that “the continuity of scheduled activity and better coordination between the urgent response and planned care will be guaranteed, which translates into clear gains in clinical safety and operational efficiency”.
The protocol states that this centralized emergency will begin on April 15, after the centralized emergency in Loures and Vila Franca de Xira, which began on March 16, and with a delay in relation to the first date announced by the Minister of Health, which was until the end of March.
The same document also defines that this regional emergency in the area of Gynecology-Obstetrics is made up of two centers, the main one will operate at Hospital Garcia de Orta, in Almada, with a Birth Center and differentiated perinatal support, and the second will operate at Hospital São Bernardo, in Setúbal, whose mission will be to ensure the Gynecology-Obstetrics Emergency service for the population in its area of influence (Setúbal, Alcácer do Sal, Grândola, Palmela, Santiago do Cacém, Sesimbra and Sines).
The only emergency service to close is that of ULS Arco Ribeirinho, which operated at the Hospital de Nossa Senhora do Rosário, in Barreiro, and from which only three doctors should be appointed to reinforce the Garcia de Orta teams, as the remaining four, over 50 years old, did not agree to carry out emergencies outside their hospital. But the Gynecology-Obstetrics service at this hospital will maintain its scheduled activity, consultations, monitoring and planned deliveries.
The protocol also makes it clear that the three ULS, Almada-Seixal, Arco Ribeirinho and Arrábida, “are jointly responsible for ensuring, in articulation and cooperation, the regular functioning of the emergency center centered on the specialties of Gynecology and Obstetrics in the respective territorial districts, in order to guarantee the adequate allocation of human and organizational resources, the continuous, safe and timely provision of health care, without prejudice to the centralized coordination of the process by DE-SNS”.
Present at the signing of the protocol were the executive director, Álvaro Almeida, the president of ULS Almada-Seixal, Pedro Azevedo, the president of ULS Arco Ribeirinho, Ana Xavier, and the president of ULS Arrábida, Luís Pombo.
It is worth remembering that the Government has defended the creation of centralized emergencies in this and other areas as one of the reformist measures for the SUS. The measure did not please the mayors of the Setúbal Peninsula nor those of the Vila Franca de Xira region, who decided last week to outline a “joint struggle strategy”.
The centralized operation of the SNS’s external emergency services is planned in Decree-Law No. 2/2026, of January 14in its consolidated version, which allows the concentration of the assistance response between territorially close units (up to 60 km) whenever it is not possible to simultaneously ensure the full functioning of these services in each institution, maintaining “workers’ rights”.
If everything goes as planned, from April 15th the Almada hospital’s emergency room will begin to receive Barreiro users in emergency situations, and they must first contact the SNS24 Grávida Line.
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