In a statement expressing solidarity with the Colombian people, the victims and their families, the Order of Physicians (OM) stresses the importance of knowing Portugal’s capacity in the case of a similar emergency.

Maintaining services, such as guaranteeing emergency power, communications, water and oxygen supply, medicines, blood, information systems and evacuation routes, is mentioned as critical, while also keeping emergency rooms and intensive care units operational.

In the official statement, Carlos Cortes, president of the Portuguese Medical Association, says: “Preparing our hospitals to continue providing care, even in the most adverse circumstances, is a matter of patient safety and a responsibility of the State.”

He goes on to argue that: "Portugal is a country at risk of seismic activity and must ensure that its hospitals, as critical infrastructure, remain capable of providing care precisely when the population needs them most.”

The Order of Physicians insists on the need for a national assessment of hospital resilience, involving health authorities, civil protection, the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), hospital institutions, health professionals, and specialists in relevant technical areas.

Cortes adds that this assessment should identify any vulnerabilities in the system, establish investment priorities, and ensure effective plans for the continuity of care.

"It should be accompanied by periodic exercises that test, under conditions close to reality, the coordination between hospitals, pre-hospital emergency services, firefighters, civil protection and other entities involved," he argues.

Reports published in April revealed that the new Eastern Lisbon Hospital in Marvila, which is currently being built and will eventually replace seven hospitals in the city centre, only has basic seismic isolation in one of its three buildings.

A prospective risk assessment by FUNDEC, an association created within the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST), delivered to the Government four years ago and publicised by TVI and the newspaper Sol, revealed that several public hospitals in Lisbon and the Algarve would be unable to assist victims in the event of a violent earthquake, Lusa reports.