"As of today, and assuming that this is a preliminary estimate that will naturally be detailed by the working group created for this purpose, the identified value that allows HDES to assume the services provided to the community is 24 million and 306 thousand euros for the year 2024", said Mónica Seidi.

The minister was speaking in the regional parliament, in Horta, on the island of Faial, on the second day of the debate on the Regional Government's Plan and Budget (PSD/CDS-PP/PPM) for 2024.

"I reiterate that this is a preliminary value, which relates to expenses related to repairs and operating expenses", stressed the Minister of Health in her speech.

Mónica Seidi stressed that it is necessary to repair the HDES "so that, even with limitations, part of its operation is possible".

According to the minister, it is not "negligible the possibility of finding transitory solutions that allow, as soon as possible, the return of services that are outside the perimeter of the hospital, namely the areas dedicated to emergencies, which currently operate in CUF", a private unit located in the neighbouring municipality of Lagoa.

The regional secretary defended that "the future undoubtedly involves having a new, renovated and modernised hospital, with a future projection that responds to the challenges not only of the people of São Miguel, but of all Azoreans in the next 20 to 30 years".

The HDES, on the island of São Miguel, suffered a fire on 4 May, which left it inactive and forced the transfer of all patients who were hospitalised to other health units in the Azores, Madeira and the mainland.

The patients who undergo haemodialysis and were transferred to Madeira return today to the Ponta Delgada hospital, and those who are in Faial and Terceira will return on Sunday and Monday, according to the executive.

On the 13th, the HDES began treating some patients in the areas of Oncology and Haemato-Oncology.

The fire in the largest health unit in the archipelago broke out at 09:40 local time (10:40 in Lisbon) and was only declared extinguished at 16:11.

The fire, under investigation, is believed to have originated in an electrical panel, which, according to the administration, had been inspected on time.

On Tuesday, the president of the Azorean executive, José Manuel Bolieiro, announced that the Government of the Republic had assumed 85% of the costs of rehabilitating the equipment.

[News updated at 13:13]

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