Patients classified as urgent at the Amadora-Sintra hospital faced this Wednesday morning (24 December) waiting times of around seven hours for the first observation in the general emergency room, according to data from the National Health Service (SNS) portal.
According to information consulted by the Lusa agency, at around 11:30, five patients who were awarded the yellow bracelet (urgent) at Hospital Prof. Doctor Fernando da Fonseca (Amadora-Sintra) had to wait seven hours for a first observation.
In this hospital, there were still 17 non-urgent patients (green bracelet) waiting, after triage, 12 hours and 37 minutes to be seen by a doctor.
The available data also indicated that in the emergency rooms of Hospital Santa Maria, in Lisbon, urgent patients (10) faced a waiting time of five hours and 12 minutes, while those who were less urgent (6) had to wait 11 hours.
At Hospital Beatriz Ângelo, in Loures, the six urgent patients had to wait three hours and 29 minutes and the three less urgent patients had to wait two hours and 10 minutes.
At Garcia de Orta Hospital, the wait for the first observation of urgent patients was two hours and that of the few urgent patients reached almost seven (06:55).
In the North, at Hospital de Santo António (Porto), waiting times in the general emergency room were one hour and 23 minutes for urgent patients and 32 minutes for non-urgent patients, and at Amato Lusitano (Castelo Branco) they were 17 and 12 minutes, respectively.
According to the triage system, very urgent situations (orange bracelet) are recommended for assistance within 10 minutes following triage, while urgent cases (yellow) require 60 minutes and less urgent cases (green) require 120 minutes.
According to data on the SNS portal, the obstetrics and gynecology emergencies at the hospitals in Santarém, São Bernardo, in Setúbal, and Portimão and the pediatric emergency rooms at the Hospital de Torres Vedras are closed this Wednesday.
Health authorities appeal to the population, before going to an emergency room, to contact the SNS24 Line (808 24 24 24) to receive appropriate guidance.