An 11-month-old baby has died in Portimão, southern Portugal, after six hours of waiting to be transferred from hospital because the ambulance was not operational due to lack of doctors.
The case, reported by local media, occurred on Friday, when a baby in serious condition was at least six hours waiting to be transferred to a hospital where there was adequate equipment to treat him.
The paediatric interhospital ambulance in the Algarve region was not operational because there were no doctors who could provide neonatal intensive care. In the end, a solution of last resort was chosen, to carry out the transfer by helicopter, but the child went into cardiorespiratory arrest when he left the hospital and ended up dying.
The head of the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians, Rui Lázaro, denounced in statements to CNN Portugal that other solutions could have been activated, such as sending a medical team to the Portimão Hospital by helicopter.
"Someone from the National Institute of Medical Emergency or the urgent patient counseling center will have made that decision. We don't know for what reason it happened this time, so an investigation must be required," he said. For its part, the Hospital and University Center of the Algarve ensured that all technical and human resources were available.
The lack of resources in emergencies has been a constant in the last year in Portugal, especially in maternity and obstetrics, with services closed during the weekends due to a shortage of doctors.
In the last year there have been other controversial cases, such as the death of a baby in childbirth when the emergency room was closed or that of a pregnant woman while being transferred from hospital.
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