Fire at Ponta Delgada Hospital took seven hours to extinguish. Nine injured firefighters

The administration of Ponta Delgada Hospital, on the island of São Miguel, Azores, has no predictions about when the situation in that unit will return to normal, but guaranteed that “it will be restored as soon as possible”.

Speaking to journalists, the president of the HDES Board of Directors, Manuela Menezes, said that it is “very premature” to give a forecast for the resumption of activity in that health unit.

“We are still evacuating [as instalações] (…) We are still carrying out an inspection, we still have to reach the very critical area where the fire is located, so that we can then have an idea of ​​whether it is days or weeks”, said the person in charge.

At 5:15 pm local time (6:15 pm in Lisbon) he indicated that only 29 patients remained to be removed from hospital facilities, without specifying the total number of people admitted to that hospital, which is the largest in the Azores.

“As I said, we are carrying out an inspection, we already have electricity, something we didn’t have about two hours ago and, therefore, as I’m saying, as soon as we have energy and have the possibility of restoring normality, we will do so” , he assured.

Manuela Menezes explained that they decided to evacuate the entire building because “the smoke spread throughout the hospital to such an extent that safety conditions were not met, due to smoke inhalation”.

“That’s why we took this decision to be on high alert and completely evacuate the hospital”, he explained.

The official also said that the patients who were in the birthing unit and those in neonatology, pediatrics, emergency room and the intensive care unit were transferred to the CUF hospital in Lagoa, in São Miguel.

Patients were also transferred to health centers, to the Casa de Saúde de Nossa Senhora da Conceição and to the Clínica do Bom Jesus.

With the help of the Army, equipment was transported to both the CUF and the health centers.

The fire reached a technical area of ​​an electrical panel on the 1st floor.

“Furthermore, the commitment has everything to do with the lack of energy that we still don’t have completely in the building, but which is already being restored through generators, but which still does not allow us, naturally, to continue and provide the care we need for our patients”, he concluded.

In a note sent to Lusa, a source from the prime minister’s office said that Luís Montenegro “is in contact with the President of the Regional Government”, José Manuel Bolieiro, to find out about the situation.

The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, is also “closely monitoring” the situation, he added.