The Hospital Centre of the Algarve was created amid much local criticism and worry as a result of a report that the government seems unwilling to make public. The Left Bloc has asked the ministry of health three times for the document to be made available so that its contents can openly be discussed in parliament, to no avail.
In a statement to parliament the Left Bloc has asked for an explanation as to why the report is being kept secret despite its impact on the Algarve’s health services, the grouping of hospitals under one management and the subsequent merging of facilities.
The third formal request from the left Bloc has gone unheeded but the question remains simple "we wish know the contents of the study that led to the decision to form the Central Hospital of the Algarve, and the merging of the hospitals in the western Algarve with Faro Hospital."
Access to the report "remains essential" so that "the decision can be properly debated in Parliament" since the merger of health units that gave rise to the Hospital Centre of the Algarve brought "profound changes in the health services that are available to the Algarve’s population.”
