“These are non-urgent surgeries for patients who may need post-operative hospitalisation and who need to occupy beds during this period of greater influx to emergency rooms,” said the president of ULS Algarve, Tiago Botelho.

The postponement and rescheduling of non-urgent elective surgeries was decided on Friday as a preventive measure to reinforce the hospitalization capacity in Algarve hospitals.

“We decided to reschedule patients to relieve pressure on the wards and allow, if necessary, the hospitalisation of patients coming from the emergency services,” he highlighted.

Urgent surgeries, outpatient surgeries and those identified as being especially relevant “are not being postponed and are being carried out,” the official said.

According to Tiago Botelho, the postponement and rescheduling of non-urgent surgical procedures “will be reversed soon”, given that there was an increase of 51 beds in the hospitalisation capacity of Algarve hospitals.

“At this time, it has not been demonstrated that it is necessary to continue postponing surgical activity for much longer,” he highlighted.

According to Tiago Botelho, “despite the decision, the impact was minimised, through a daily and constant analysis of the situation, allowing the maintenance of some operational plans”.

The manager of ULS Algarve reaffirmed that the measure “was merely preventive to avoid overcrowding situations and safeguard hospital services, at a time of worsening weather conditions and greater demand for emergencies”.