The Algarve Hospital Centre (CHA), which manages Portimão’s Barlavento Hospital, has issued a statement in which it slams information that came to the public fore and which reported new cases of tuberculosis that had been detected at the unit.
Information from the SEP nurses union issued earlier this month stated that two nurses from the emergency department at Portimão hospital had tested positive for tuberculosis and said there were “strong possibilities” that more co-workers could test positive for the bacterial disease.
The risk to workers was, according to the CHA, “associated to the closure of a negative pressure room which had supposedly existed before at the afore-mentioned unit’s emergency ward”.
The Algarve hospitals’ governing body added: “Such news is false and slanderous, originating from repeated statements that, through ignorance or bad faith, have been handed down by a local SEP branch, [headed by] nurse Nuno Manjua.”
The CHA also said that “there is not nor has there ever been a negative pressure room in the hospital of Portimão” and stressed that there are “three negative pressure rooms suitable for the admission of patients with respiratory diseases in a contagious stage” at Faro hospital.
The administration of the CHA says it expects “the leadership of the union of nurses [to issue] a formal apology.”
Last Friday, Health Minister Paulo Macedo had also denied the existence of a tuberculosis outbreak in the Hospital de Portimão, and noted that only two cases were detected among the nurses who work in the emergency department of that hospital.
“There are two cases of tuberculosis, one of which was detected in a screening. What concerns us, of course, is that there are no additional cases and that [those infected] are being properly treated”, he said.
In total nine cases of tuberculosis have been detected so far this year in the Algarve’s hospitals, which include Portimão and Faro.
Earlier this year, in May, seven health workers at Portimão Hospital tested positive for latent tuberculosis.
The five nurses and two assistants were among 28 health workers who were tested after having unprotected contact with a patient being treated for active tuberculosis at the unit in September and October last year.
Latent tuberculosis means there are no symptoms or signs of the disease, yet there is a risk of the patient developing them. Infection is not possible as long as the disease is dormant.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday this week, the Algarve branch of the Nurses Union issued a statement in response to the CHA’s latest affirmations, saying it stands by its accusations and claims it never spoke of an outbreak at the hospital, just that more causes could come to light.
The statement claimed four more cases have since been confirmed.
“SEP has never spoken about tuberculosis outbreak. It has reported some cases among health workers in both hospitals [Faro and Portimão], which of course concerns us.
“We now have confirmation of four more cases of tuberculosis (latent) in two nurses and two operating assistants”, it stressed.
Reiterating its position, the Union added: “SEP reaffirms everything it said and can prove it either with photos or by testimony from colleagues.”