Urgent patients facing more than nine hours of wait times in Portuguese hospitals

Patients seeking urgent medical attention in Portugal face wait times exceeding nine hours at hospitals across the country.

Transcript

00:00Urgent patients visiting Portuguese hospitals are having to wait more than nine hours in

00:06some cities until they can be admitted.

00:10The government's National Health Service, the SNS, reported that many hospitals in the

00:14capital Lisbon are struggling with high demands and shortages in labor and resources.

00:21But the excessively long wait times are not just limited to Lisbon.

00:25In Coimbra and Portimao, nine-hour wait times for urgent patients were also reported.

00:33The increased demand on Portuguese health facilities is due to an increase in the circulation

00:38of the flu virus.

00:39The flu virus is increasing, that is, we are not yet at the peak, we are still in a growing

00:46phase, and having a vaccine coverage that is reduced below 85 years makes it easier

00:52to circulate.

00:53Portuguese authorities say the situation in hospitals is slightly improving.

01:23Local health units are making more resources available, driving wait periods down.