Azores Situation Report Wednesday 7th May 2025

Administration wants to resize Ponta Delgada’s HDES and create a hospital of the future

The administration of the Divino Espírito Santo Hospital (HDES) in Ponta Delgada reiterated the objective of resizing the unit to create a “hospital of the future”, maintaining the intention of launching the project by the end of June

In a session commemorating the fire that devastated HDES on May 4th, 2024, the president of the hospital’s board of directors said she wanted to “leave not only a message of confidence, but of hope” for the future of the largest hospital in the Azores.

“The hospital is not just about repairing or reorganizing, it is also about resizing it to be a hospital of the future. We want it to be able to provide the best treatments and most differentiated healthcare for over 25 years,” said Paula Macedo in a statement.

The president of the administration defended the importance of giving “new breath to the future” of HDES and assured that the “final functional program evaluation phase” is currently underway.

When asked about possible delays in the deadline, Paula Macedo reiterated that the intention is to launch the project by the end of the first half of the year, but referred further clarification to the regional secretary for Health.

“The objective here is to bring something robust and well-founded by listening to the entire clinical and non-clinical area and being able to use this material to design the future hospital”, he reinforced.

The person responsible for HDES, however, declined to justify the decision to build a modular hospital and not reopen the emergency service, recalling that she will be heard on May 14th in the parliamentary inquiry committee dedicated to the response to the fire at HDES.

“I don’t think it’s the day. Today is a day to express our gratitude and acknowledgement to all those who helped us. That’s what I wanted to leave as a message of confidence and hope: our users can always count on us,” he stressed.

Regarding delays in surgeries and diagnostic tests, Paula Macedo recalled the impacts caused by the suspension of clinical activity and promised a “short response” for affected users.

The president of the administration also said that HDES will “reinforce the capacity” of the operating block, returning to having six rooms, the same number it had before the fire.

During the session, Paula Macedo praised the professionals and institutions that helped respond to the fire on May 4, 2024, which forced the transfer of 333 patients.

The initiative also included a speech on disaster response by the former Secretary of Health of Madeira, Pedro Ramos, as a specialist in Disaster Management.

Azores record the biggest drop in birth rates and rise in mortality rates

The Azores were the region that showed the largest year-on-year decrease in birth rates, but also the sharpest increase in mortality in the country in 2024 compared to the previous year, which culminated in a negative natural balance, according to data released yesterday by the National Institute of Statistics (INE)

Regarding mortality, in Portugal there were a total of 118,374 deaths of residents in national territory in 2024, 79 more than in 2023 (118,295 deaths), which represented a year-on-year increase of 0.1%.

In the Azores there were 2,454 deaths in the year under review, a year-on-year increase, considering that 85 more deaths of Azorean residents were recorded compared to the previous year.

Based on the information presented by the national statistics office, mortality increased in four of the nine NUTS II regions, with increases higher than those recorded at national level (+0.1%), with the Autonomous Region of the Azores standing out with the largest increase (+3.6%). In contrast, Madeira recorded the largest decrease in mortality (-7.6%).

At a regional level, the highest proportion of deaths occurred in the age group of 80 and over, representing more than half of mortality in all regions, ranging from 52.2% to 65.4%, with the exception of the Azores, a region where the proportion of deaths in this age group was 46.2%.

As indicated by the national statistics office in the publication ‘Vital Statistics 2024’, it appears that in the year under analysis, 84,642 babies were born to mothers residing in Portugal, 1.2% less than in 2023 (85,699 live births).

Of the total number of live births observed in the country, 43,470 were male and 41,172 were female, “representing a male-to-female ratio of 106 (for every 100 female children, approximately 106 were male)”, the document states.

In the Azores, 1,871 babies were born to mothers residing in the Azores archipelago in 2024, a reduction of 171 live births compared to the previous year. This observed decrease is equivalent to the largest year-on-year drop recorded in Portugal this year (-8.9%).

According to the INE, the birth rate decreased in more than half of the country’s NUTS II regions, except in the West and Tagus Valley (+1%), Greater Lisbon (+0.9%), the Setúbal Peninsula (+0.3%) and the Autonomous Region of Madeira (+2.6%).

With the exception of the Central region (-0.9%), in the remaining regions the decrease was greater than the national figure (-1.2%), with the Azores showing the biggest drop in birth rates.

This year, around a third (33%) of live births in Portugal were children of foreign mothers.

“In the last decade, the proportion of live births to mothers of foreign nationality has more than doubled”, adds the INE, highlighting that the proportion of live births to mothers of foreign nationality was higher than the national value in three regions: Greater Lisbon (47.8%), Setúbal Peninsula (46.9%) and Algarve (46.6%).

In the Azores, the proportion of live births to mothers of foreign nationality was the lowest in the country, at 7.1%.

In the country there was a slight increase in the number of deaths and a decrease in the number of live births, a situation that led to a worsening of the natural balance, also felt in four of nine regions.

The North was the region where the most pronounced negative natural balance was recorded (-12,471), the Autonomous Region of the Azores where the least negative value was recorded (-583) and Greater Lisbon, for the second consecutive year, was the only NUTS II region to record a positive natural balance (+929), highlights the INE.

Prison services open investigation into case of hospitalized inmate in the Azores

Prison services have opened an investigation into a case in which an inmate in the Azores was allegedly placed in isolation in a cell without a mattress and required emergency medical care, the Minister of Justice revealed.

“There is an investigation process underway and in view of this, the necessary measures will be taken”, said Rita Alarcão Júdice at the end of the inauguration ceremony of the new facilities of the Southern Directorate of the PJ, in Faro.

An inmate at the Angra do Heroísmo Prison, on Terceira Island, has been hospitalized in serious condition since April 26th, after being found lying in the cell where he was confined with signs of hypothermia.

The National Union of Prison Guards warned last week about the “lack of security conditions” in the prisons of Ponta Delgada and Angra do Heroísmo.

The union president, Frederico Morais, said on April 24th that the inmate in question “returned from hospital and was placed in isolation in a cell without a mattress” and “required emergency medical care due to respiratory problems”.

“We do not have the conditions to have a psychiatric patient in a prison. We are not doctors. In these types of situations, inmates should be placed in specialized clinics,” said Frederico Morais, defending a “rigorous” inspection of the Angra do Heroísmo prison