A seemingly large number of infections of the H1N1 virus have been reported in the Algarve and within the space of a week the local health authority has allocated space for six special attendance services within health centres, aimed exclusively at flu patients. The centres, Serviços de Atendimento à Gripe, or SAGs, are located in Loulé, Portimão, Tavira, Silves, Albufeira and Lagoa, the last two of which began functioning last Sunday.

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The recommended first line of action for those who suspect they have contracted the disease is to contact the 24 hour health helpline (Linha Saúde 24 – 808 24 24 24), although many people have complained that waiting times to speak to an operator are extremely long, in some cases over half an hour, and many have given up. Others have been directed, or gone directly to the local attendance centres, of which there are many more throughout the country. People with symptoms, who arrive at the centres without having called the health line, are apparently assessed by the triage team before being redirected to the SAG. Get real spoke to Lídia Leote from Portimão, who suspected her son was infected over a week ago. It was later confirmed that she was also infected, although she manifested virtually no symptoms. Her praise for the Linha Saúde 24 was enthusiastic and she told us the telephone operators had been “impeccable” in the service given, “calling me back every couple of hours for an update.” The service told her to take her son to the SAG in Loulé a week ago last Sunday, where she waited three hours to be attended to, which she considered “normal, under the circumstances. I waited just as everyone else did.” At that time, she said, “everybody in the facility was respecting the safety measures, all wearing masks and disinfecting their hands.” Although Lídia had not been presenting any symptoms at the time of visiting the SAG, she asked the doctor to test her too as she suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and has a weakened immune system. She was warned that if she tested positive she may have to be hospitalised. However, although she did test positive she managed to overcome the illness, without ever manifesting any severe symptoms or suffering adverse consequences, taking the medicine dispensed by the doctors and remaining confined to her home, along with her son and other family members, all of whom received prophylactic medication, for seven days. She told us she had taken recourse to the Linha Saúde 24 once more last weekend and, although she waited about half an hour to be attended, she received the same standard of service she had experienced a week ago: “It is totally understandable that one has to wait, the amount of calls they are receiving, especially now, has increased astronomically. I think they are doing the best they can under the circumstances and people must be patient.” Reporters from the Lusa news agency spent three hours at the SAG in Loulé, where they witnessed several people disregarding the safety measures, many of them people accompanying a patient, and some even refusing a face mask from the staff Various children’s facilities were closed in the Algarve, including a crèche in Mexilhoeira Carregação (Lagoa) and one in Armação de Pêra (Silves). According to Natália Paias, coordinator of the former establishment, health professionals contacted the Linha Saúde 24 and were advised that further measures were not necessary, considering there had been no known contact with other infected people. When the crèche closed last Monday it was confirmed that eight children and one adult were infected with the H1N1 virus. On Wednesday, the Health Ministry confirmed that nine cases had been confirmed at the Armação facility.