Almada Hospital Restores 24-Hour Maternity Care After Doctor Boost

A late-summer hiring spree at Almada’s Hospital Garcia de Orta quietly erased one of the biggest worries for parents south of the Tagus: from this week on, the maternity doors stay open around the clock. After years of night-time shutdowns and frantic ambulances heading for Lisbon, seven additional obstetric and gynaecology specialists have walked onto the ward, tipping the staff balance just far enough to guarantee continuous cover.

A lifeline for families on the south bank

In practical terms, the upgrade means that women living in Almada, Seixal and the surf towns of Costa da Caparica once again have a fully functioning public delivery unit fewer than 20 minutes away. The hospital’s catchment—roughly 350,000 inhabitants, including a sizable Brazilian and PALOP diaspora—had been relying on a fragile rotation system that often left the Margem Sul with no local obstetric emergency after sunset. Every closure forced labouring mothers onto the 25 de Abril bridge or a ferry, a stress multiplier for anyone already navigating birth in a second language. Restoring a 24-hour obstetric emergency eliminates that gamble and keeps newborns within immediate range of neonatal specialists.

What’s new inside the delivery suite

The freshly recruited doctors—six moving over from private clinics and one returning from research overseas—lift the core team to a headcount that hospital managers consider safe for continuous shifts. With the extra hands, the unit can now run two simultaneous theatres for urgent Caesareans, bring back on-site fetal-medicine consultations and trim routine gynaecology waits that had stretched past eight months. The administration has also unlocked funds for an additional ultrasound machine and a revamp of the recovery wing, upgrades financed through the wider €500,000 refurbishment that began last year. Executives predict the service will stabilise at roughly 2,600 births a year, bouncing back from the 15 % drop recorded in 2024.

How staffing collapsed in the first place

The revival masks a turbulent stretch. Between January 2024 and June 2025, Garcia de Orta waved goodbye to seven senior obstetricians, many lured by Lisbon private-sector salaries that can outpace public pay by €3,000 a month. With neighbouring units in Setúbal and Barreiro battling the same exodus, the three hospitals sometimes shut their maternity wards simultaneously—an episode local mayors branded “mission impossible” for emergency planning. Birth numbers plummeted from 2,720 in 2023 to 2,299 in 2024, and unions logged multiple cases of medical staff working 36-hour shifts to plug gaps. The tipping point came in April 2025, when the ward closed for five consecutive days and one baby was delivered roadside in an ambulance.

The carrot Portugal is dangling to bring doctors back

This month’s hires are the first tangible results of a national incentive cocktail: “vagas carenciadas” add 40 % to the base wage, a 25 % exclusivity bonus rewards doctors who work only for the Serviço Nacional de Saúde, and a draft decree promises extra payouts for obstetrics units under extreme pressure. For Garcia de Orta, classified the most critical site in Lisbon’s suburbs, the ministry even waived the usual competitive exam to speed things up. Parallel plans include a prospective public-private partnership aimed at modernising infrastructure and a pilot that routes would-be patients through the SNS 24 hotline before they appear at A&E, an attempt to reduce walk-ins and protect the newly rebuilt roster.

Unanswered questions on the horizon

Officials admit the numbers look good only on paper until rosters survive Christmas and next summer’s holiday season. Population growth propelled by foreign tech workers keeps pushing demand upward, and any relapse in wage talks could tempt younger doctors abroad again. Trade-union spokespeople warn that a single resignation would reopen the old debate about rolling closures. The Health Ministry counters that upcoming incentives plus a mentoring scheme for new graduates should lock in the gains—yet concedes it will be “months, not weeks” before they declare victory.

Navigating Portuguese maternity care as an expat

If you are expecting, register early with your local Centro de Saúde to secure the free Boletim da Grávida, the small yellow booklet clinicians will stamp at every appointment. Bring your NIF, residence permit and European Health Card or private insurance details to each visit—paperwork is still mostly analog. Most prenatal checks in the public system remain cost-free, but ultrasounds can spill over to private labs when waiting lists swell; confirm referrals in advance. Keep Garcia de Orta’s emergency number in your phone and map the ambulance entrance before the third trimester starts. With the ward now staffed 24/7, chances are high you will deliver locally, in Portuguese or English—just remember to ask the triage desk for an interpreter when contractions begin.

For the first time in years, crossing the bridge in labour is no longer Plan A.