Modular hospital with emergency services open on Tuesday and fully operational in last quarter of 2024

Secretaria Regional da Saúde e Segurança Social

The Regional Secretary for Health and Social Security, Mónica Seidi, visited the modular hospital in São Miguel on Saturday, announcing that the emergency service will open on Tuesday and the unit expected to be "fully operational" by the last quarter of 2024.

"Next Tuesday, September 3, at 4 pm, emergency service of the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES), currently operating at the Ribeira Grande Health Centre, will be transferred to this new HDES modular hospital emergency service. Patients of lesser complexity, who were previously treated there, will be treated here," she said.

The project involves setting up a modular hospital to mitigate the impact of the fire that broke out at HDES in Ponta Delgada last May.

The general emergency department will have two screening stations and 16 to 20 observation rooms, in addition to an emergency room, an isolation room and a nursing office. The paediatric emergency room will have two medical offices and eight to ten observation spaces.

In the next phase, Mónica Seidi added, two wards will be opened in the modular hospital, "which could provide some back-up if there is an increase in demand."

Services such as intensive care, intermediate care, operating rooms and an imaging room will follow later on.

"We are talking about a room that will have a lead lining and as much goodwill as there is and has been in this infrastructure, it is not something that can be done overnight," she said.

Regarding the future of HDES, Mónica Seidi stated that its refurbishment will require a functional plan, which has already been awarded, in a rather "lengthy" process.