Minister accuses provider Santa Casa of “total inaction” and rejects political bailout

The Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security on Tuesday accused sacked provider Santa Casa of “total inaction”, the administration of taking advantage of itself and rejected the idea of ​​“political sanitization” in the dismissal.

In an interview with RTP, Minister Maria do Rosario Ramalho said that she has a “very solid basis” for the decision to dismiss Ana Jorge, the provider of the Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa (SCML), as well as the rest of the board (administration) of the institution.

“I even heard that it was a political purge. It was nothing,” assured the minister, who justified the dismissal of Ana Jorge “for managerial reasons,” accusing her of “complete inaction” in the face of the financial crisis situation. that she inherited from the previous administration, repeating what the government had already said in a statement about the dismissal due to the lack of a restructuring plan.

“The conversation we had did not show any urgency, given the situation that existed,” said Maria do Rosario Ramalho, insisting that “nothing happened” and that Ana Jorge “has done nothing” since taking office. to improve the financial situation.

The minister said that “it didn’t occur to us.” [do Governo]which did not have a financial restructuring plan” or which had “increased personnel costs”, noting that expenses were reduced only for 19 directors, who lost these positions and associated allowances, but remained with the institution, having on the other hand , highlighting the board’s decision to increase their salaries.

“Those who sat at the table even increased. We were surprised. (…) they benefited themselves, and not the people who participate in the work,” the minister criticized, noting that the majority of SKML workers earn the minimum wage.

Regarding Ana Jorge’s accusations of “slander and bad faith” regarding the justification for dismissal from the SCML board, Maria do Rosario Ramalho said she found it “very strange”, listing the sequence of events up to the moment of dismissal: for example, the lack of a report on the measures that it is necessary to accept, or an answer to a number of “the most basic questions” posed by the guardianship and to which Ana Jorge never answered.

Pointing to “communication failures,” the minister said she had “absolutely lost confidence in the dismissed provider,” so she decided to fire her “on the basis of the law.”

However, she rejected the possibility of criminal proceedings against Ana Jorge’s actions at the head of the SCML, stressing that she was concerned about the “management” and that the decision was based on data collected by the government, which the minister did not want to detail before sharing it with MPs at parliamentary hearings.

Maria do Rosario Ramalho rejected the accusations of political impropriety that the government cited in the dismissal of Ana Jorge, who remains in this position under the current leadership until she is replaced in this position, since “this is the responsibility of any person performing public work.” . functions”.

The minister assured that the process of replacing Ana Jorge is “urgent, but not hasty.”

“If this was a political purge, I would already have four or five people there,” the official added, adding that the government was looking for a “financial profile” for a successor, not taking for granted that he might be from within one of the parties coalition, but not to rule it out: “All parties have very good financiers.”

The minister stressed that the government intends to “change its focus” on this position.

“We may face a total danger of SCML’s activities this year, and this danger, unfortunately, has intensified over the past year. SCML did not suffer losses this year only because there were injections from the state,” he said, adding that the €50 million debt from SCML no longer exists.

Ana Jorge took office on May 2, 2023, chosen by the previous socialist government of António Costa, and inherited an institution in serious financial difficulties after years of the pandemic and the process of internationalization of social games carried out by the administration of the provider Edmundo. Martinho, which could have caused losses of around 50 million euros.

Following her dismissal, the provider wrote a letter to all SCML employees, accusing the government of dismissing her in a “rude, arrogant and slanderous manner” and that she was caught off guard.