The basic emergency department of Moimenta da Beira, in the district of Viseu, has been facing for almost a year a severe shortage of stretchers. This situation has forced patients to wait for care in wheelchairs or on stretchers belonging to rescue ambulances.
Due to the lack of stretchers in the emergency service, ambulances remain at the facility for several hours, unable to resume their emergency service. This retention harms the response capacity of the region's emergency services.
The situation directly affects both patients who seek care at the emergency department and the emergency medical services that depend on ambulances to transport patients and be available for new incidents.
