Over the long weekend, service constraints will be seen on the Friday bank holiday, when the obstetrics and gynaecology emergency departments at the Garcia de Orta (Almada) and Amadora-Sintra hospitals will be closed, as well as the paediatrics department in Vila Franca de Xira.

The number of closed emergency rooms increases to six on Saturday, including gynaecology and obstetrics at the Garcia de Orta, Amadora-Sintra, Vila Franca de Xira and Barreiro hospitals.

These are joined by paediatrics in Vila Franca de Xira and Beatriz Ângelo (Loures), according to the schedules.

On Easter Sunday, 10 emergency services will have their doors closed, the vast majority of gynaecology and obstetrics specialities, as is the case at the Garcia de Orta, Amadora-Sintra, Barreiro, Setúbal, Vila Franca de Xira, Santarém and Abrantes hospitals.

In addition to these, paediatric emergency services will be closed in Vila Franca de Xira, Loures and Torres Vedras.

The SNS portal also indicates that, during these three days, around 130 emergency departments of various specialities will be open throughout the country, in addition to around 30 obstetrics and gynaecology departments integrated into the pilot project, which involves users having to contact the SNS 24 line in advance.

The constraints on emergency services are mainly due to the lack of specialist doctors to ensure the shifts, a situation that is more frequent during holiday periods, such as summer and the end of the year, and long weekends.

Recently, the two unions for this professional class, SIM and FNAM, told Lusa that this situation is due to the exhaustion of the teams, which are still understaffed, and that it will worsen as doctors reach the annual limit of 150 hours of overtime for the general regime and 250 hours for those who adhere to full-time dedication.

The difficulties in the functioning of emergency services have been most evident in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo, the region of the country where most people do not have a family doctor assigned.