The opening of the new Chamoska Health Centre, the project of which was announced in 2018, still does not have a specific date on the calendar. There were some bureaucratic problems that prevented the opening of the new center, and the mayor says, “Everyone is waiting for each other.” At the last council session, Paulo Quemado said that he met with the Ministry of Health with representatives of the Regional Health Authority, but there is still no date for the opening. “We will only accept the transfer of skills in the field of health with the operation of the new center and ensuring access to health care,” he said.
The mayor confirmed that the work is ready, with only some corrections and interventions on the exterior of the building, located on Avenida Gago Coutinho, next to Bairro 1° de Maio, in the upper part of the city.
It must be remembered that the first major problem that contributed to the opening of the new health unit was the fact, as Paulo Quemado explained in several sessions of the Council, that the contractor (Ecoedifica) responsible for the construction had not received from the Regional Ministry of Health Administration (ARS) the total value of the interventions of about 700 thousand euro. However, the mayor made it clear at the last meeting that the debt had already been paid.
In one of the municipal assemblies, Paulo Quemado admitted that he was “under great pressure from the ministry to sign the transfer of skills in the health field,” but stressed that he would not “sign anything” until everything was resolved. “This is the case regardless of the consequences for the municipality. Our situation at the moment is too humiliating to accept this transfer,” he stressed at the time.
More doctors in the province
At the last council meeting, it was also known that more doctors had arrived to work in the municipality, which had only three doctors working, one of whom was not full-time. Claudia Moreira, Deputy Mayor, informed that three more doctors will be hired in the coming months, and they will be appointed, above all, in annexes in the parishes, specifically in Olme, Valle de Cavallos and Chouteau. The mayor also said there will be an increase in the number of nurses to perform cervical screening.
