Viseu Pediatric Emergency remains limited to weekends in April

The Pediatric Emergency Department at the Viseu Dão-Lafões Local Health Unit (ULSVDL) remains closed during night shifts on weekends, due to the lack of pediatricians, a source from the institution told Lusa today.

According to the source, “the contingency plan is maintained, that is, the March restrictions will continue in April”, because there are “only 15 Pediatric specialists to ensure the scale” of the urgency following terminations and medical leaves.

Thus, the pediatric emergency will be “closed to the outside for some periods” in order to guarantee “a sustainable solution for the functioning of the various areas of the Pediatrics Service and the Birth Unit of the Gynecology-Obstetrics Service”.

The contingency plan foresees the normal operation of the Pediatric Emergency Department from Monday to Thursday and the closure of the External Pediatric Emergency Department during the night periods of Friday, Saturday and Sunday, between 8:00 pm and 9:00 am the following day.

“At night, a Pediatrics team maintains the Internal Pediatric Emergency for hospitalized children and children undergoing surveillance or treatment in the Emergency Department, admitted before 8:00 pm”, states the ULSVDL.

In this sense, the normal functioning of the Birth and Neonatology Unit is ensured seven days a week and there will be a guaranteed response to pediatric medical emergencies with an immediate risk to life in the Pediatric Emergency Room, even during periods of embarrassment.

The ULSVDL Board of Directors stated, in a press release, “to continue to make every effort to restore the normal functioning of the Pediatric Emergency Room as soon as possible”.

“There is superior authorization to promote the hiring of pediatricians through individual employment contracts or service provision contracts to mitigate the deficit in human resources”, said the unit.

The new organization also allows there to be “conditions to improve the coordination of care, developing a referenced emergency project in which access to Pediatric Emergency is rationalized, with prior guidance from INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency), SNS 24 or a doctor from family”, and that “rapid scheduling of consultations in primary health care is promoted for non-urgent acute situations”.