Members of Parliament are demanding answers over alleged malpractice at the National Hospital of Guido Valadares (HNGV).
Member of Commission F (health, education, veterans’ and gender equality affairs) Ilda Maria da Conceicao said community members were reluctant to go to the hospital for treatment.
MP da Conceicao said medicine was in short supply while other medicines were used past their expiry dates. She said health workers lacked professionalism and the standard of care given by hospital staff was poor.
She said the high incidence of malpractice could be attributed to the Ministry of Health’s structural reform which saw medics moved into administrative roles, leaving trainee medics to treat patients.
MP da Conceicao called for an in-depth investigation into what she said was a recurrent problem.
“Three cases occurred last month,” she said.
“In one of them, the patient only suffered from a stomachache and came to hospital in a healthy condition, however, the medics gave the patient an injection which caused that patient to die.”
She said another patient had been brought to the emergency room with a high fever by family last year.
The patient was administered an injection and began to scream before dying.
MP Estanislau da Silva echoed the call for an investigation into the hospital as the standard of care offered had direct impact on community members.
He refused to enter into speculation about specific cases but said an investigation was necessary
HNGV clinic director Dr. Aniceito Barreto said an investigation team had already been formed at the direction of the health minister.
