New minister confirms no hospital maternity ward shutdowns under the proposed obstetrics program.
Reframed and Rewritten Article:
Ana Paula Martins, the Health Minister, put rumors about the closure of some obstetrics units to rest during the 1st Iberian Congress of Palliative Medicine in Chaves. In response to reporters' queries, she made it clear that the new plan proposed by the Commission on Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health doesn't intend to shut down any obstetrics units, such as those in Barreiro and Vila Franca de Xira.
The plan's focus is on enhancing the safety and service quality in maternity wards, especially identifying weaknesses in units like Barreiro and Vila Franca de Xira that may impact the functionality of the urgency service. Martins stated that the document suggests these units might face issues if these weaknesses remain unaddressed. However, it's vital to note that this doesn't mean the closure of obstetrics and gynecology services—instead, resource sharing and responsibility redistribution may become necessary to sustain the urgency service.
The proposal emphasizes technical and safety issues, analyzing feasible solutions for each maternity ward and striving for the safety that women, children, and families deserve. The plan is also designed to tackle challenges relating to weekend closures in obstetrics and gynecology services, particularly in regions like Lisbon and the Setúbal Peninsula, by establishing new Integrated Responsibility Centers. These centers are unique in that they offer autonomous management, fostering quality rather than just productivity while prioritizing local population proximity and emergency service availability.
Significant investments will be made to establish these Integrated Responsibility Centers, placing a priority on ensuring they attract human resources to offer dependable obstetrics care without service closures. According to Martins, the next Government will likely acknowledge the expertise of the commission in this matter and prioritize implementing these centers to address human resource shortages and enhance service delivery.
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[1] The Commission on Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health's proposed plan keeps existing obstetrics units open while addressing technical and safety concerns in each maternity hospital. To tackle challenges like weekend closures, particularly in areas like the Setúbal Peninsula, it introduces new Integrated Responsibility Centers. These centers promote autonomous management that rewards quality and proximity, ensuring safe obstetrics care for the local population.
- France has shown interest in collaborating with Portugal on the health-and-wellness sector, particularly in the area of women's health, as they share the same vision of enhancing safety and quality in maternity wards, much like the Commission on Maternal, Child and Adolescent Health's proposed plan.
- Amidst France's growing interest in health-and-wellness, especially women's health, there may arise opportunities for knowledge exchange in the field of science, such as research and best practices implementation, to further improve the maternity services in Portugal.
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