Hospital da Horta receives nine more patients displaced from Ponta Delgada after fire – Society

This Wednesday, Horta Hospital welcomed nine more patients from São Miguel, due to the fire that broke out on Saturday at the Ponta Delgada hospital and which forced the largest health unit in the Azores to be evacuated.

“To date, 25 patients arrived on Sunday, who underwent hemodialysis on the same day, and during today, nine more arrived, who will also undergo hemodialysis until the end of the day, totaling 34 patients at the Ponta Delgada hospital”, he explained to Lusa Joana Decq Mota, clinical director of Hospital da Horta, on the island of Faial.

The fire that broke out on Saturday at Hospital Divino Espírito Santo, in Ponta Delgada, forced the transfer of all hospitalized patients and the closure of the Emergency Department, Delivery Unit and Operating Unit.

The following day, the Government of the Azores declared a situation of public calamity due to the fire, the causes of which are not yet known, as a way of “accelerating procedures” that would allow the normalization, in a “short space of time”, of the activity of the largest unit of Azorean health.

In addition to the 34 hemodialysis patients from Ponta Delgada, Hospital da Horta continues to provide daily hemodialysis treatments to another 30 patients from the islands of Faial and Pico, a situation that will force the administration to extend shifts “until midnight ” and also strengthening human resources.

“This means extending shifts and we will need human resources”, highlighted the clinical director, adding that at the end of the week “a team of nursing and operational assistants” will arrive from São Miguel, to collaborate with the nursing team from Horta.

Due to a lack of hospital beds at Horta Hospital, patients displaced by the fire are temporarily housed in hotel units, but despite being far from their family they say they have no reason to complain.

“For us it was a good solution. We are very well installed, we don’t lack anything and we are very well supported by the nurses and assistants, but of course we feel strange about our nurses there”, admitted Lina Bernardo, one of the displaced patients , in statements to journalists, during treatment in Horta.

Also Daniel Franguinho, an Azorean emigrant who has lived in Bermuda for 34 years, but who was visiting Ponta Delgada, said he did not complain about the way he was received at Horta Hospital.

“They are treating us very well, in every way, we cannot say anything bad about anything”, he assured.

Despite having doubled the number of patients undergoing hemodialysis treatments at Hospital da Horta, the clinical director of the health unit said that it will still be able to receive more patients from other areas, if necessary.

The Divino Espírito Santo Hospital was hit on Saturday by a fire that forced the transfer of all hospitalized patients.

The regional secretary of Health, Mónica Seidi, told Lusa that at the time of the fire “there were 333 patients in the Hospital”, and it was possible to “discharge 23” and transfer 240 patients.

Critical and seriously ill patients were transferred to the CUF hospital, in the city of Lagoa, and the rest to health centers. In addition to the patients transferred to Horta, another 26 users went to Hospital do Santo Espírito, on Terceira island. Some patients were also transferred to Madeira and the continent.