PS questions Government about radiotherapy interruption in Évora

In a question delivered to Parliament, dated Tuesday and consulted today by the agency Lusa, the PS deputies elected by Évora, Beja and Portalegre, Luís Dias, Pedro do Carmo and Luís Testa, respectively, argue that cancer patients in the region “cannot remain in a situation of uncertainty as to where they will perform their treatments”.

“ Nor can they continue to endure, for an indefinite period, long and particularly painful journeys at a time when they should be able to concentrate exclusively on their recovery”, they add.

In this question, addressed to the Minister for Health, Ana Paula Martins, parliamentarians ask for information on ‘how long does the Government expect cancer patients in Alentejo to continue to undergo radiotherapy treatments in Lisbon or other regions of the country’.

Socialists also want to know how many patients in the area of influence of the Local Health Unit of the Central Alentejo (ULSAC) are currently undergoing radiotherapy treatments outside Alentejo and in which units are being monitored.

“What measures are being taken to ensure the transport, accommodation, monitoring and social support” of these patients also asks the three Members.

The elect of the PS, in the document, remember that the radiotherapy service of the Hospital do Espírito Santo de Évora (HESE) “has ensured, since 2009, an essential response to cancer patients in the district of Évora and the whole Alentejo”.

This year, “the replacement and modernization of their equipment, in particular linear accelerators, which are essential for the continuity of the provision of radiotherapy treatments, was imperative”.

UlsAC, the deputies, reported, launched a competition to grant the operation of the unit, including the provision of their health services, with a “base value of €18.658.209”, which was won last May by ATRYS Portugal Advanced Medical Center.

PS parliamentarians say that according to “the information available”, an international competition should have been launched, but “it would have been held only as a national contest”.

“The Court of Auditors will have rejected the procedure already after the beginning of the works and the installation of new equipment, a circumstance that will have contributed to a situation of blockage and uncertainty about the continuity of the project”, they stress.

For this reason, the PS also wants the Government to explain the contours of this tender procedure and what “concrete consequences” “had this decision on the award, the contract, the adaptation works of the facilities and the installation of new radiotherapy equipment in the HESE Sponsorship Building”.

“ Are the works and installation of the equipment currently suspended or stopped? If so, since when and why?” Members also ask.

Among the 13 issues in the document, parliamentarians ask the Government to clarify whether the new equipment installed in the Evora Radiotherapy Unit will later be transferred to the Alentejo Central Hospital, under construction in that city.

On September 9, following concerns of the Left Bloc (BE) about the interruption of radiotherapy in Évora and constraints for cancer patients, ULSAC clarified that the recovery of treatments in the unit, closed for the execution of the works since June 1, is conditional on the completion of tests and obtaining licensing.