Lisbon, Jan. 9, 2026 (Lusa) - The outgoing head nurse of Portugal's Amadora-Sintra hospital group, in the Lisbon region, said on Friday that due to the lack of support from the authorities for the Board of Directors of Amadora-Sintra Hospital, it is "impossible" for it to "manage anything".
Speaking to SIC TV News, Luísa Ximenes said she had already criticised the hospital's boards of directors for their "inability (...) to be competent", adding: "After this experience I had with the total lack of support I felt from the minister of health, it is actually impossible to manage anything".
The official, who resigned from her position on the Board of Directors on Thursday, said she was "stunned" to hear Prime Minister Luís Montenegro "say that the health problem could not be solved with resignations, while supporting the main cause of the resignations", referring to Minister Ana Paula Martins.
Luísa Ximenes pointed out that the minister of health "subjected [that hospital] to two administrations" and that "now a third is coming," asking: "So is it solved with dismissals or not solved with dismissals? This is the second Board of Directors that is being dismissed" at Amadora-Sintra Hospital.
"The reason for my resignation was because I felt a total lack of support and even a lack of recognition for the extraordinary work done by the nursing staff, who in six months managed to get 80 extra beds open in the hospital, many of them in intensive care, opened operating theatres, and opened the Sintra hospital," she said.
She explained that it was a decision made "from one minute to the next" after hearing "on television, quite rightly, that those responsible for what was happening in the accident and emergency department of Fernando Fonseca Hospital were the members of the Board of Directors".
She felt responsible, but "there was nothing else she could do" after giving orders to the clinical management to ensure that "proper shifts were worked in the accident and emergency department" and this did not happen.
Luísa Ximenes also told SIC TV News that she intended, with her resignation, to "speed up, for the good of the hospital, the replacement" of the chairman of the Board of Directors, who resigned in November, so that "there can quickly be a direction, a vision that inspires those professionals to believe in a better future".
On Thursday, the Portuguese Medical Association argued that replacing the management of the Amadora-Sintra hospital should be a priority over other hospitals without critical situations, warning that the institution's leadership is weakened, compromising healthcare.
"The weakened leadership, since the resignation [of the chairman of the Board of Directors, Carlos Sá, in November], compromises the hospital's organisation and contingency capacity during critical periods, such as the peak of the flu season and low temperatures," warned the leader of the Portuguese Medical Association, Carlos Cortes, in statements to the Lusa news agency.
"The Board of Directors is unable to function, as the few remaining members do not have the authority or the necessary tools to manage the unit," he stressed, describing the situation as "truly urgent".
Due to the lack of doctors to cover shifts in the general accident and emergency department, Amadora-Sintra Hospital urgent patients have been facing very long waiting times, reaching around 20 hours.
PAL/AYLS // AYLS
Lusa
