New ICU at Macao Union Medical Center to launch next month

A new intensive care unit (ICU) capable of treating more seriously ill patients will open at the Macao Union Medical Center next month, the center announced yesterday, after explaining that the sole injured victim of a February traffic accident near its emergency station was sent elsewhere because the patient was stable.

A mid-February traffic accident has sparked public controversy after the release of dashcam footage showing a car crossing into oncoming traffic while turning right into the Macao Union Medical Center. The vehicle collided with an oncoming motorcycle; the rider, unable to brake in time, was thrown into the air and then crashed to the ground. The Public Security Police Force (PSP) has charged the 80-year-old male driver of the car.

However, the decision to transport the injured motorcyclist to the peninsula’s Conde S. Januário Hospital for treatment — despite the accident occurring just outside the Macao Union Medical Center — has become a focal point of public debate.

Appearing on public broadcaster TDM’s radio program yesterday, Lei Wai Seng, deputy director of the Islands Healthcare Complex, clarified that the injured party had been assessed as stable at the time of the incident and was consequently transported to the Conde S. Januário Hospital in accordance with standard operating guidelines.

Lei quickly added that the hospital has since conducted an internal review and held discussions with the Fire Services Bureau (CB), leading to the gradual assumption of ambulance services for residential care homes in the outlying islands district and the progressive provision of emergency surgical procedures. According to him, a dedicated ICU will be inaugurated next month, at which point the hospital will be equipped to receive more critically ill patients. 

Notably, the hospital has already begun accepting ambulance calls for non-domestic incidents and relatively minor accident cases. According to Lei, the emergency station currently processes between 200 and 270 patient visits per day — a volume he characterized as “a heavy service demand.”

The Macao Union Medical Center stated that since operations began in 2024, it has significantly reduced waiting times for specialist services at Conde S. Januário Hospital as part of efforts to optimize public healthcare. According to Lei, the hospital has also focused on providing various medical services — including outpatient consultations, medical imaging examinations, and clinical laboratory screenings — referred by health centers on the outlying islands.

Notably, the hospital’s Radiation Oncology Center and Nuclear Medicine Center have officially opened, and the number of patients served continues to grow. Lei noted that the centers completed more than 3,200 surgeries from last January to this May, including more than 400 high-difficulty, high-risk complex cases.

Meanwhile, the hospital has introduced performance-based pay into its remuneration system, with employees receiving a basic monthly salary equivalent to approximately 70% of the established pay scale. The remaining 30% is allocated through a redistribution mechanism and calculated as performance wages on a semiannual basis.