The mass resignation rendered the operating block crippled at the beginning of this week, as reported by news channel RTP.
According to the national broadcaster, the heads of the department claimed a lack of safety conditions drove them to the drastic measures.
RTP said the heads of the senior members of the operating block staff had already last Friday expressed their intention to resign in a meeting held with the hospital’s management.
Speaking to Portugal’s state-owned channel, José Rianço Josué, administrator of Santarém Hospital, said that the operating rooms that were open had all the necessary conditions to function and that patient safety was not being compromised.
He explained that the situation was flagged three years ago, and admitted that the hospital is running with “fewer [operating] rooms than we need.”
Jorge Roque da Cunha, general secretary of the Independent Doctors’ Union (SIM) told radio station TSF that what is happening in Santarém is “similar to what is happening in medium-size district hospitals, which have a reasonable ability to respond to needs, but as time has passed have seen their ability to attract doctors fade.”
A reality that he said is coupled with “fewer resources for hospitals and more overheads”, and in Santarém’s case is a “recognised situation of pre-calamity.”