Spain and Portugal Health Workers Deliver Urgent Care Amid Power Crisis

Ensuring Cold Chain Integrity and Prescription Accuracy Amid Crisis

Frontline Response:
Doctors and pharmacists across the entire region mobilized swiftly to safeguard critical medicines from freezing temperatures. They triaged supplies, established makeshift refrigeration units, and prioritized medication transport to maintain therapeutic efficacy.

Deciphering Handwritten Orders:
The pronounced influx of handwritten prescriptions posed significant hurdles. Skilled pharmacists engaged in meticulous interpretation, cross‑referencing each dosage and drug name to prevent misadministration, thereby upholding patient safety.

Awaiting the Next Step:
After securitizing the cold chain and confirming prescription accuracy, the healthcare teams paused. This intermission allowed them to verify inventory levels and coordinate with logistics partners for the continued delivery of essential drugs.

• Securing temperature‑sensitive medications using portable refrigeration.
• Cross‑checking handwritten prescriptions against electronic records.
• Coordinating with supply chains to replenish depleted stocks.

Power Outage Paralyzes Lisbon Clinic, Patients Left on Their Own

On Monday afternoon, Dr. Tiago Villanueva opened the doors of his family medicine centre in Lisbon to find an empty hall. Every patient had been sent home, and the staff moved cautiously, anticipating a prolonged emergency that felt eerily similar to the early days of the COVID‑19 crisis.

Massive Blackout Shuts Down Iberian Peninsula

• All mobile networks went offline.
• Internet access was lost.
• Electricity was cut across Spain and Portugal.

With a combined population of roughly 60 million, the region experienced an immediate ripple effect: businesses closed, commuters were stranded in transit tunnels, and regular work schedules fell apart.

Healthcare Services Struggle Without Power

Hospitals had to rely on emergency generators, allowing only the most critical operations to proceed. Treatments for dialysis patients were interrupted, resulting in abbreviated sessions.

Villanueva’s Day of Manual Work

When the outage struck around midday, the clinic’s team attempted to keep operations running. “We reverted to paper prescriptions and handled appointments the way we did 30 years ago,” Dr. Villanueva told Euronews Health. Even so, many patients were sent home and the clinic stayed closed until evening when visibility proved difficult.

As the sun set, the doctor and his colleagues kept the doors open, ready to receive any patient who might still need urgent care, while awaiting guidance from national health authorities.

Cold-chain storage concerns

Cold Chain Crisis Amid Power Outages in Spain and Portugal

The sudden loss of electricity across Portugal and Spain has raised a flag for health professionals: vaccines could lose their potency if they do not remain at the required chilled temperatures.

Vaccine Storage Under Pressure

Hospital and clinic staff now face the reality of keeping thousands of refrigerator units operational. Without reliable power, the vaccines—ranging from the measles‑mumps‑rubella (MMR) shot to tuberculosis protection for young children—are at risk of becoming ineffective.

• In Villaneuva, a local clinic managed to re‑allocate its doses to a neighboring hospital able to run a powered generator.
• It remains uncertain whether every primary health centre in Portugal can replicate this relief.

Pharmacy Adaptations in Terrassa

Outside Barcelona, pharmacist Jordi Nicolás shared a different approach from his hospital pharmacy in Terrassa. By tapping into the hospital’s backup generator, they maintained the requisite low temperatures for both medicines and shots.

But the Spanish pharmacies’ higher degree of automation presents an additional challenge. The high‑volume robotics systems, while efficient normally, cannot line up proper inventories when power is lost. Nicolás’ team thus designed emergency measures to keep critical drugs, especially those for intensive care units, available.

• Special protocols were devised to prioritize the delivery of life‑saving medications while generators keep running.
• The cycling of robotic inventory systems had to be temporarily disabled to ensure essential supplies remained on hand.

Healthcare Contacts and Comments

Dr. João Paulo Magalhães, vice president of the Portuguese Association of Public Health Doctors, highlighted the situation: “Thousands of refrigerators now depend on constantly running generators to preserve vaccine safety.”

“Some of our immunization products may have become non‑viable,” he added, signalling significant concern for public health outreach.

Equally, Jordi Nicolás, also serving as vice president for the Spanish Society of Hospital Pharmacists, observed: “The presence of numerous robots in daily pharmacy operations means we must come up with alternatives when the power cuts in.”

Implications for Future Preparedness

The outage underscores a broader need for resilient power solutions in medical settings, especially in regions susceptible to grid instability. Coordinated backup strategies and improved system automation could mitigate the risk of vaccine loss moving forward.

Wake-up call on need for contingency plans

Impact of the Power Outage on Pharmacy Operations

Pharmacists had to brace for the possibility that the blackout could extend for several days. With most prescription information stored in electronic medical systems, the loss of power meant that they could not determine which patients were prescribed which medicines. This uncertainty highlighted the need for robust contingency plans.

Challenges Faced by Pharmacists

• Inability to access electronic medical records.
• Difficulty identifying patient–medication relationships.
• Urgent need for alternative communication channels.

Nicolás emphasized that “we now rely so heavily on electricity” and that the situation underscores the importance of establishing backup protocols.

Portugal’s Prescription Disruption

Across Portugal, pharmacies outside of hospitals were unable to process prescriptions on Monday, causing significant disruption. Magalhães noted that the system failure posed serious potential consequences for patients, especially if the blackout lasted more than a day.

Future Preparedness Measures

Villaneuva is exploring solutions to maintain communication between family medicine clinics and central health authorities during emergencies. One potential approach is to acquire a radio—an essential tool for many people when mobile services fail.

Despite the chaos at the beginning of the week, Portugal and Spain’s health workers are prioritizing a swift return to normal services. In most Spanish hospitals, power was restored around 9 or 10 pm, marking a hopeful resolution.

Key Takeaways

• Energy outages expose the critical dependence of healthcare on power.
• Contingency plans are essential for maintaining patient safety.
• Alternative communication methods must be prepared in advance.