A group of members of Lar do Comércio, in Matosinhos, revealed, on Friday, that the elderly installed there continue to be the target of mistreatment, having denounced the case to Social Security and the Public Ministry (MP), which confirmed the opening of inquiry.
Lar do Comércio, in Matosinhos, says that the accusations of mistreatment that led the Public Ministry to open an inquiry are “false and execrable outrages”, saying it takes all measures to ensure that “users are treated well”.
“No one left or abandons the Institution due to lack of conditions! Much less for lack of sufficient and competent medical and nursing care! It is not true that there is a degradation of food and much less of hygiene and cleanliness!”, declares the management of the Private Institution of Social Solidarity (IPSS) in a statement sent this Saturday to Lusa.
In the complaint that was filed on February 24 at the Matosinhos MP, the signatories and members of that institution allege that this “lack of conditions” even led several users to leave the home, indicating that there are “residents who are being subjected to mistreatment translated into the supply of food in little and less quantity, in medical and medication treatments and poor personal hygiene.
Emphasizing that they are unaware of the investigation process opened by the MP after these complaints, the management of Lar do Comércio considers that these “falsehoods” aim to “denigrate” the institution where users guarantee they are well treated.
“The management assumed and assumes, every day, the adequate measures to guarantee that the users are well treated, cherished and receive everything that in this phase of their life they have the due and fair right”, they assure, defending that the accusations that are being imputed to the institution lack evidence.
In response to Lusa, the management of Lar do Comércio also rejects that all “appropriate and necessary measures” had not been taken to control the “alleged outbreak of legionella in the institution’s water supply system.
Contradicting the reports of the institution’s employees who spoke to Lusa, the institution clarifies that “measures were not taken in just a few showers”, as alleged by the employees heard by Lusa, but in the entire system, which represented “a considerable investment, but effective”.
They also add that the situation was “adequately known and appreciated by the Guardianship Inspectorate, which has already given its opinion”.
“The elderly are dying in pieces due to lack of care”
On Friday, anonymously, the employees and users who decided to speak to Lusa, described a scenario that was identical to what the health authorities found in 2020, the year in which, according to official figures, 24 users of covid-19 and in which even the Army had to intervene.
In a report that is completely identical to the one presented by a group of members of the institution to the Public Ministry, the lifelong residents, who continue to pay around 350 euros a month for their spaces, say they were “forced to leave to live”.
The employees who decided to speak to Lusa also outline a dramatic scenario, with more than one hundred, more than half of whom are bedridden or without autonomy, “left to their own devices”.
“The elderly are dying in pieces due to lack of care”, an official told Lusa.
The management of the home does not, however, recognize these accusations, which they consider “abstract”, accusing the authors of the complaint to the MP of being involved in complex criminal judicial processes.
“Many of these alleged associates, who today hide in anonymity and in the shadows, were working at the institution and living at the undue expense of the income of the users that they claim to defend today”, they accuse.
They also add that Lar do Comércio today opens its doors to guardianship, “which had the opportunity to verify, consult, analyze and scrutinize the entire space, users, employees and suppliers and issue the report that it deemed appropriate and where, once again, clarified all the alleged anonymous and somber denunciations that were raised against this institution”.
In response to Lusa, the institution says it still does not understand what those who accuse them of having the intention of transforming the place into a home for “rich people” mean, stressing that the current management was the only one that took on a licensing process for the space. before the supervisory body that had been claiming the illegality of space.