This was one of the ways the Ministry of Health found to minimise constraints on emergency services in this speciality, due to a lack of sufficient doctors to fill schedules, which has been more evident in the Setúbal Peninsula, where a regional obstetrics emergency unit is also planned.

According to the Executive Directorate of the National Health Service (DE-SNS), the gynaecology and obstetrics emergency unit of Loures-Odivelas/Tagus Estuary, which will have differentiated perinatal support, will be operational from March 16th, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, at the Beatriz Ângelo Hospital in Loures.

The concentration of services raises concerns among unions, who argue that the measure was taken without a corresponding increase in the hiring of healthcare professionals and that, in the case of doctors, they cannot be forced to move from their workplace to another hospital to cover emergencies.

DE-SUS stated that the preparation and management of regional emergency room schedules will be coordinated by the on-call directors of the respective local health units (ULSs) under its coordination.

The ULS Loures/Odivelas teams will ensure 80% of the continuous provision of emergency care, and the ULS Estuário do Tejo teams will ensure the remaining 20%, but the Southern Zone Doctors' Union has already warned that, although Loures Hospital will have an increase in service, the team "will only have the reinforcement of one nurse who will come from Vila Franca de Xira".

Despite the planned closure of the obstetrics emergency room in Vila Franca de Xira, which also serves the municipalities of Azambuja, Arruda dos Vinhos, Alenquer, and Benavente, the executive board clarified that the maternity ward at that hospital will continue to operate.

All other activity remains operational at the Vila Franca de Xira Hospital, including scheduled deliveries and open gynaecology and obstetrics consultations for non-urgent acute illnesses, said the DE-SNS.

The entity led by Álvaro Almeida justified the creation of the regional emergency rooms with the lack of specialised professionals in some areas of the country, which makes it impossible to ensure complete teams in certain services at certain times.