The president of APAH, Xavier Barreto, told Lusa that “there is some improvement [in waiting times], even though demand continues to be very high”, considering that the return of doctors to working overtime has helped to ease issues.

According to the hospital administrator, “the difficulty continues to be in guaranteeing inpatient beds, infirmary beds and intensive care beds in sufficient numbers to meet the demand of patients who are admitted by the emergency department”.

“If it were viable or possible to hire 4,000 doctors, we would undoubtedly support this hiring, because the SNS would be much more capable, and it would be cheaper than paying overtime, but there are not those 4,000 doctors to be hired”, he highlighted.