"The results are very positive. We have had a general increase in surgeries, outpatient consultations and even in the number of inpatients", said Filomena Mendes, president of HESE's board of directors, to Lusa agency.

From the beginning of the year until the end of October, the hospital recorded "a 25% increase in surgical interventions", compared to the same period last year.

In all, 15,740 surgical operations were performed at HESE in the first 10 months of this year, 3,161 more than at the end of October 2018, when 12,579 surgeries had been performed.

The 28% increase in scheduled surgeries is reflected in the 19% decrease in waiting lists of patients who were enrolled.

Regarding outpatient consultations, in the same comparative period, the HESE made more than 7% of first and 4.5% of follow up appointments, with an increase of 14% of appointments made in adequate time and a reduction of 24% in the waiting list.

The head of the HESE told Lusa that a total of "around 164,000 consultations" were made in the first 10 months of this year, adding that, compared to the same period in 2018, "the increase was eight thousand consultations".

"These results are transversal to practically all specialties, both in the area of consultation and surgical interventions".

With regard to hospitalisation, there was an 8% increase in the number of patients, added Filomena Mendes, admitting that, despite there being "a significant improvement", the administration "is not yet completely satisfied", because "some areas of expertise have not yet achieved these results, for example, obesity surgery".

Filomena Mendes attributed the increase in activity to the "stability" of some teams, in particular anesthesiology, and to the effort of professionals in normal working hours and overtime.