New equipment already in operation at Imaging Service of Santo Espírito Hospital - Communication

Secretaria Regional da Saúde e Desporto

The Regional Secretary for Health and Sport marked today in Angra do Heroísmo the entry into operation of the new equipment of the Imaging Service of the Santo Espírito Hospital of Terceira Island.

The investment reached one million Euros and, according to Clélio Meneses, it will lead to "huge gains for patients, health professionals and the health system in general."

The government official revealed that the equipment now installed includes "a new updated and state-of-the-art X-Ray machine, a new ultrasound machine, which will be used for several medical purposes, namely in breast pathology, and a new CT scanner with increased testing capacity, especially in cardiology, and with less radiation and greater speed."

The Regional Secretary also highlighted the fact that "there may be a reduction in waiting lists and a provision of health care in accordance with our purpose, in a faster and more effective manner and closer to the population."

"In the four weeks of operation of this new equipment, waiting lists have already recovered in a very significant way and, at this pace, we actually expect waiting lists to have an increasingly reduced impact on people's health," he stressed.

With the acquisition of new equipment, under the Recovery and Resilience Plan (RRP), "a part of this investment" is completed, Clélio Meneses explained, adding that an upgrade will also be made in the MRI unit, which is estimated at about one million Euros.

The government official also mentioned the overall investment in the Terceira Hospital in the context of the digitisation of health reached two and a half million Euros, "even before the investment to upgrade the MRI unit."

"Moreover, and also in the context of digitisation of health, I would like to point out that the dematerialisation of tests is also a step towards these goals of increased speed, proximity and efficiency. In cardiology and pneumology, dematerialisation processes were already completed last year, but they will continue in other areas, which means that all this investment will provide better conditions for the health service," he stressed.

The government official also mentioned that some of the equipment of the Santo Espírito Hospital of Terceira Island had been transferred from the old to the new hospital, "with some being discontinued" and with no parts to repair them. "This is to say that we are here, indeed, modernising health care."

"With the planned investment in magnetic resonance imaging, this hospital will have the conditions to operate independently and provide a quality service, like anywhere in the world, where good health care is provided," he stressed.

As he further noted, "it is important that the Azoreans realise that we are working to ensure that care is provided in the Azores in such a way that users can trust the system. This is one of the great challenges of our time: trust in the system. And, with equipment like this and professionals like these, there is every reason to trust the system."

Clélio Meneses also highlighted the good performance of the Regional Health Service in 2022, "which broke all records in terms of surgeries, consultations and tests." In this regard, he pointed out "more than seven million tests, a record-breaking number of surgeries for the first time, with more than 10,000 surgeries, and also more than one million consultations. This means that more is being produced and with this equipment even more will be produced."

"Therefore, saying that problems are a inevitability, a difficulty for which there is no solution, is not true. There are solutions and we are demonstrating them," he said.