The vice-president of the PS parliamentary group, Andreia Cardoso, wrote to the leader of the Regional Assembly, Luís Garcia, following news about the need for patients displaced on the island of Faial, due to the fire at the Ponta Delgada hospital, to leave the hotel units where they are staying, due to the ceremonies of the Day of the Region (Monday) and the plenary session of parliament (between Tuesday and Friday).

The socialists consider this to be a situation "deserving of attention and care".

"Not only because we are talking about users who are in a fragile situation and need certain care but also because it is related to the events that occurred at the Hospital do Divino Espírito Santo (HDES) and which, it should be remembered, justified a declaration of regional public calamity, which is still in force," justifies Andreia Cardoso in the letter to which the Lusa agency had access.

In the letter, the official conveys the "total availability" of the PS/Açores parliamentary group to help resolve the matter and presents two proposals.

The first is related to the change of the date of the plenary session this month, scheduled to take place between Tuesday and Friday of next week, "thus allowing more time to resolve this situation, either by obtaining another type of accommodation or by the return [of the patients] to their homes, if they can then guarantee them 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 assumes the availability of all its deputies "to be accommodated in other hotel units in the eventuality and to the extent that this can guarantee the best conditions of comfort and convenience for the patients".

In the letter, the PS/Açores acknowledges that the ceremonies of the Day of the Region and the plenary session "were scheduled well before the events of May 4", when the fire broke out that left the HDES inoperable.

"It is true that all the logistical arrangements that these two events imply, namely, the reservation of accommodation, in the name of the Legislative Assembly of the Region, were made before the events of May 4 and that when it was necessary to resort to these hotel units to accommodate these displaced patients, the Regional Government already knew, or had the conditions to know, of these constraints," they say.

However, they add, "people have to leave the places where they are staying by the 19th [Sunday], and what is public about the places where they will be relocated makes the differences between these places and the hotel units where they are staying notorious".

The users from the island of São Miguel who are in Faial undergoing hemodialysis will be relocated due to the lack of availability of the hotels where they were initially welcomed, explained the regional health secretary today.

"When the hotels were contacted to receive these users, there was no hesitation. However, given the festivities next week, the hotels are not available, which already had commitments made and, of course, our concern was to continue to ensure a social response of accommodation, food and payment of daily allowances to these users, in a dignified manner," said Mónica Seidi in statements to Lusa.

There are 31 users in question, who were transferred to the island of Faial to continue their hemodialysis treatments.

Some of the patients will be accommodated in the Faial Sports Service training center and the rest "will be distributed among a residential home, a guest house and apartments that are designated as military apartments".

Read Also: Displaced users relocated due to ceremonies of the Day of the Azores (Portuguese version)