"At the moment, our staff is perfectly capable of handling emergencies and we can ensure that all patients are attended to in a timely manner. In the future, in order to accommodate more hospitalizations, in addition to reorganizing some services, we will need more human resources, namely nursing teams and operational assistants, because we will have more infirmary beds in operation," said the hospital's clinical director, Rute Couto, in statements to Lusa.

On Saturday, a fire at the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES) in Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, left the unit inactive and forced the transfer of patients to other health units, both on and off the island.

The Hospital de Santo Espírito a Ilha Terceira (HSEIT) initially received 28 patients for hemodialysis and 12 inpatients between infirmary and intensive care units.

Patients undergoing hemodialysis are staying at a hotel unit or at the Santa Casa da Misericórdia and the Lar D. Pedro V, when they have a greater degree of dependency, and the HSEIT clinical director assures that "everything has gone very well".

"People have responded very well, they are willing to help, they are being very supportive. We have had to work extra shifts to ensure dialysis and evacuations, and people have organized themselves so that everything runs smoothly," she stressed.

According to Rute Couto, the hemodialysis service can still increase its capacity, with more human resources.

"We are working hemodialysis shifts until midnight, but we can extend them until 4:00 am. There will have to be a reinforcement in terms of personnel, but in terms of hemodialysis vacancies, we can make this reinforcement of shifts and we can accommodate people," she explained.

The medical evacuation unit, based in Terceira, has also been "in great demand" due to the lack of activity at HDES, the largest hospital in the region.

"We have two evacuation teams and it has already been necessary, at least twice, to activate a third team, due to the overload of the first teams and because they have been flying for many consecutive hours," revealed Rute Couto.

According to the Portuguese Air Force, 13 patients from São Miguel have already been transported in medical transfers since Sunday.

The HSEIT clinical director revealed that the hospital has already begun to "plan the reorganization" of its operation "to respond to demand in the medium and long term".

"This initial phase was a phase of immediate response to the disaster, but now we have to think about the future and the response we have to give to the people of the Azores, while the HDES is not operational," she explained.

Rute Couto assured that the HSEIT is ready to give this response, but needs support from the Regional Government.

"On our part, we started thinking about it on the first day, what physical spaces could we reorganize, what consultations could we reorganize in the day hospital so that we could occupy fewer vacancies. We also identified from the first day that human resources would be needed, both for extending dialysis shifts and for extending the operating room time and even for opening a new infirmary," she added.

The HSEIT clinical director did not rule out the possibility of new hires for the hospital.

"If there are professionals available to collaborate with us, for example, in the operating room shifts and in the dialysis shifts, that would be ideal. We have to see if there is this availability on the part of the HDES professionals. And we have to contemplate that it may be necessary to make some hires, which were planned for the medium and long term and may need to be done sooner," she said.

Leia Também: Ordem dos Médicos oferece apoio após fogo no hospital de Ponta Delgada (Portuguese version)