The fire that today hit a section of the Ponta Delgada Hospital, on the island of São Miguel, in the Azores, was considered contained at 2:50 pm local time (3:50 pm in Lisbon), a hospital source told the Lusa agency.
“There are no victims. At the moment there is no one whose life is in any danger”, said the regional secretary of Health and Social Security, Mónica Seidi, speaking to journalists, adding that “the concern is to guarantee the safety of all patients” and “the population of the island of São Miguel, whose number this weekend is much higher than usual”, due to the Santo Cristo festivities.
At a press conference, in Angra do Heroísmo, on the island of Terceira, the regional secretary explained that the fire jeopardized “the power supply to the Hospital” and that “the smoke spread in several areas” of the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo, on the island of São Miguel.
The head of the Health department also said that patients who “were hospitalized in the neonatal intensive care unit and also in adults” have already been transferred and “intermediate care and palliative care patients have already been flagged for a more differentiated response”.
As explained by the minister, the authorities contacted the Health Unit on the island of São Miguel, which has Health Centers with inpatient capacity, and with the private CUF Hospital and the Bom Jesus clinic, on the island of São Miguel, who “readily made themselves available to help.”
“To guarantee access to health care for the population immediately, we activated the basic emergency units at the Health Centers, which will operate 24 hours a day, because the emergency service at Ponta Delgada Hospital is currently closed”, said Mónica Seidi.
In case of more serious situations, patients should be referred to the Emergency Service of the private CUF Hospital, located on the island of São Miguel, which is coordinated with the teams at the Ponta Delgada Hospital.
As for the Birthing and Operating Room, which are also currently closed, a plan has already been defined, in conjunction with the CUF, to respond to emergencies, by reinforcing elements of the Ponta Delgada Hospital.
HDES does not count how many patients were removed from the hospital unit today due to the fire, indicating that some hospitalized patients were also given “early discharge”.
“There is this concern to guarantee the safety of users and the resident population”, stressed the regional secretary, admitting, if necessary, evacuating patients to other islands.
The regional secretary also revealed that it is expected that “in the next four to five days it will be difficult to restore normal energy to Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo”.
On the other hand, patients in the inpatient service on floor 1