“I have never stopped saying that Lisbon and the Tagus Valley and the Setúbal Peninsula, especially when it comes to obstetrics, is a huge problem. It didn’t start yesterday, it didn’t start three months ago, nor four, nor five, nor 10. It already existed and, naturally, it has to be resolved”, highlighted Ana Paula Martins.

Speaking to journalists after accompanying the Minister of Youth and Modernization, Margarida Balseiro Lopes, at the presentation of Artificial Intelligence projects at the Santa Maria Local Health Unit (ULS), in Lisbon, the minister acknowledged that, despite 164 emergency rooms being open, it is “necessary to take steps forward”.

“Fifteen hours, 16 hours, 17 hours waiting to be seen in a hospital emergency room (…) is unacceptable. We will take steps in this regard very soon,” she stressed.

Ana Paula Martins assured that the assessment of the winter plan “will be made when winter is over”, specifying that “forecasts will only be made at the end of the season”.

“I also promise that the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), which is responsible for reports in the maternal and child area, will provide more details with its committee of experts. This is a technical matter, it is a matter from the scientific and clinical area. The recommendations that come from the experts are the recommendations that the Government must naturally look at, follow and implement”, she highlighted.

The minister also promised to soon provide “an update” on the Health Emergency and Transformation Plan, “to report to the Portuguese people”.

Ana Paula Martins also said that “the excess mortality recorded last month, during the period of flu activity and low temperatures, is worrying”.

According to data from the latest epidemiological surveillance bulletin for influenza and other respiratory viruses from the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (INSA), in January, 1,191 more people died than expected.

The majority of the nearly 1,200 deaths were over 75 years old (88%) and 77% were women, and it was in the second week, between January 6 and 12, that there were more deaths than expected.