Former building that was used to combat tuberculosis in Viseu will house health services

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PS councilors put forward a proposal to locate two family health units in Abraveses and Rio de Loba

The building of the former Anti-Tuberculosis Service (SLAT) in Viseu, which has been abandoned for several years, will be redeveloped and could house health services, announced the Mayor, Fernando Ruas.
Fernando Ruas said that in the building, located next to the Pousada de Viseu, two of the four Family Health Units (USF) and the Public Health service that operate in the so-called “high building” of Social Security could be installed.
According to Fernando Ruas, as part of the delegation of powers in the health area, the four USF and the Public Health service will emerge from the “high building”.
The objective is to distribute it across three new buildings, explained the mayor, adding that one of the possibilities is for two of them to have two USFs each and the Public Health service to operate in the old SLAT building.
The mayor also admitted the possibility of the former SLAT building housing two USFs, “if they also fit there”.
“We want to take the opportunity to requalify the SLAT building and I think we have redeveloped it in the best way with a Family Health Unit or with services linked to health”, he added.
Fernando Ruas said that the transfer of this building to the municipality was “an authentic station of the cross”.
“We started by claiming SLAT services many years ago. The answers were always ‘yes’. Then, when it came to the transfer of powers, it came automatically”, but in a conditioned way, he explained, adding that, as within the space of a year the central administration did not carry out work on the building, “it would automatically pass to the Chamber”.
“But, even so, we are going to take office and it is already defined, we just need them to follow it up with the respective documentation”, he said.
During the Chamber meeting, the socialist opposition questioned Fernando Ruas about the new location of the USF and argued that some of them should be taken outside the city center, specifically to Abraveses and Rio de Loba.
According to João Azevedo (PS), this would be “important for territorial cohesion, for the distribution of public services in the municipality”.
“We realized that, of the three new buildings, two will be located within the city, the other is still being decided”, he lamented.
The councilor explained that the PS’s proposal was that the USF could be located “in a strategic way in the municipality of Viseu, so that people have faster, more efficient mobility, so that public services are closer”.
“With this decision being at the municipal level today, it is necessary to give examples and naturally, health has to be distributed in an organized way throughout the municipality”, he stressed.