Patients want tuk-tuk back at Matosinhos hospital

The CDU councilor at the Matosinhos City Council said this Saturday that he will deliver a petition with a thousand signatures from users to the administration of the Pedro Hispano Hospital on Tuesday demanding the reinstatement of the transport service at the hospital entrance.

This service – a six-seater electric tuk-tuk that transported people from the hospital entrance to the reception, thus avoiding the steep ramp that exists there – was discontinued in May, after 10 years in operation.

Collected over the course of about a month, these thousand signatures will be delivered in a ceremony scheduled for 11:00 am on Tuesday at Pedro Hispano Hospital and, the following day, at the Matosinhos City Council meeting.

José Pedro Rodrigues, who in addition to being a councilor, is also the CDU candidate for local government in the October elections, told Lusa that the transport system has served "more than one hundred thousand users during its lifetime" and that, therefore, "it is important that it returns before winter because the elderly and people with more limited mobility will have a hard time without this support."

The 'Tuk Boleias' was a project by the Matosinhos City Council and Pedro Hispano Hospital, with a shared investment, which was created to resolve “daily complaints” from users due to the difficulties they have in walking the “steep climb” of the access ramp to the health unit.

In May, it was decided not to renew the protocol between the two institutions, arguing that "the hospital had built a new pedestrian access," which is a side walkway that connects to the lower floor of the hospital and not to the reception, he said.

However, José Pedro Rodrigues states that “the sidewalk that was built is an uncovered sidewalk, which has no protection against rain or wind, contrary to what users expected, who expected a moving walkway”.

"Users feel let down, and from our perspective, rightly so, because that service actually helped people get into the hospital and protect them from the rain and wind," he said.

As a councilor, José Pedro Rodrigues argues that it makes perfect sense to maintain the protocol.

"We're going to fight for the return of this service [free for users], and that's what we'll do next Tuesday. We'll announce that we've reached 1,000 signatures and deliver them to the hospital administration. We'll also deliver them to the city council on Wednesday at the City Council meeting, with exactly the same purpose: to raise awareness so that this transportation can be quickly restored in time for this fall and winter," he added.

When questioned by Lusa, the councilor stated that "there are many complaints from users, especially older citizens and those with more mobility limitations and their families."

The vehicle operated from Monday to Friday, between 8:00 and 18:00, continuously and in both directions (upward and downward).