"According to contacts made between the [Regional] Government and the [Regional Legislative Assembly of the Azores], it has already been guaranteed that no patients in hotels will have to leave their rooms," an official source from the PSD/CDS-PP/PPM coalition executive, led by social democrat José Manuel Bolieiro, told Lusa news agency.

Today, the PS and Chega in the Azores regretted that due to the commemoration of the Day of the Azores - scheduled for Monday, in Horta (Faial) - and the discussion of the Region's Plan and Budget for 2024, in the regional parliament - which also operates in the city of Horta, between Tuesday and Friday - the patients displaced on that island due to the fire at the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES), in Ponta Delgada (São Miguel), are being removed from the hotels to accommodate the politicians.

"The members of the Government of the Azores and their support teams with reservations in hotel units in Faial, regarding the Day of the Region and the upcoming plenary week, are currently looking for alternatives in other types of hotel units, freeing up as many hotel rooms as possible, specifically the units that are hosting displaced patients," the same source from the Azorean executive told Lusa.

According to the source, the Government of the Azores "is, as it has been since the first minute, in solidarity with the patients who had to be removed from the HDES, and will continue to do everything to ensure the greatest possible comfort for everyone".

The Regional Secretary for Health, Mónica Seidi, had informed Lusa today, in statements to Lusa, that the users from the island of São Miguel who are in Faial undergoing haemodialysis, due to the fire at the HDES, would be relocated due to lack of availability in the hotels where they were initially accommodated.

At issue are 31 users, who were transferred to the island of Faial to continue their haemodialysis treatments.

Upon learning of the situation, Chega/Açores defended the cancellation of the commemorations of the Day of the Azores and the debate in the Regional Assembly, to prevent patients from leaving the hotels where they are staying.

In the opinion of the leader José Pacheco, "the solution is very simple": "We don't have accommodation, we cancel the Day of the Azores [scheduled for Monday, in Horta), we cancel the Budget [which will be discussed in the regional parliament, which also operates in the city of Horta, between Tuesday and Friday]. We postpone it, we do it another day".

"The Azores have survived so far without a Budget, they can survive another week, a fortnight, a month (...) No one dies because there is no Budget. And no one dies if the Day of the Azores is not held in the Assembly, on Monday," he defended.

The PS/Açores parliamentary group has already proposed to the president of the regional parliament that he change this month's plenary session and has shown its willingness for the deputies to be relocated and to prevent displaced patients in Faial from leaving the hotels.

The vice-president of the socialist parliamentary group, Andreia Cardoso, wrote to Luís Garcia to convey the "total willingness" to help resolve the issue and presented two proposals.

The first is related to the change in the date of this month's plenary session, "thus allowing more time to resolve this situation, either by obtaining another type of accommodation or by returning [the patients] to their homes, if they can then be guaranteed the other care on the island of São Miguel".

Then, since the accommodation reservations were made and are in the name of the Legislative Assembly, the PS assumed the willingness of all its deputies "to stay in other hotel units in the event and to the extent that this can guarantee the best conditions of comfort and convenience for the patients".

Read Also: PS/Açores says that the fire is being handled as a factional matter (Portuguese version)