IL criticizes Pizarro for taking on social media challenges with “surprising flippancy”.

On Monday, the IL leader slammed Health Minister Manuel Pizarro for tackling the SNS with “surprising flippancy” as “proof” that the service is not working properly.

Two months after visiting the Algeiran-Mem Martins Medical Center in the Sintra area, Rui Rocha returned this Monday to a place where those without a family doctor can only make an appointment on the first working day of the month.

At 08:00, when the doors of the polyclinic opened, several dozen people were already standing at the doors, along the entire facade of the building, and some of them had been waiting for an appointment since 04:15.

The leader of the IL considered that two months after his first visit there was “little” improvement in the service of this polyclinic, regretting that there are people, including “sick, disabled and elderly”, who continue to have to travel every month to sign up for reception.

“This is an unworthy situation in Portugal, in 2023, this is an unworthy situation not only this month. It happens here, as elsewhere, month after month, in reverse, with people without any conditions, with cold, with rain … This is an absolute humiliation,” he argued.

Asked if he thinks the government is sensitive to such situations, Rui Rocha replied: “Minister Pizarro is a man who approaches these matters with surprising frivolity and, I think, does not live up to his duties as a ruler.”

“Minister Pizarro is actually a good person who jokes, has fun, laughs, but not much fun when these people are here with such conditions since 04:15 when he arrived as the first user,” he said. said.

Rui Rocha argued that one must “acknowledge that there is a problem” and then “take one’s treatment seriously and not be ideologically biased”.

“Needless to say that the private sector cannot be part of the solution, because there is no solution afterwards. Therefore, it is better to acknowledge that there is a problem, to open the door to those who can contribute to solving this problem, and it is clearly better to serve the citizens,” he argued.

The leader of the IL emphasized that “this indicates that the SNA is an important part of the national health system, but insufficient.”

“Here we have to check and make sure that this is the case. We have a question about the closure of emergency departments, obstetrics, waiting lists … This indicates that at the moment the SNA is not providing proper services, ”defended.

Speaking about the closure of the maternity wards at the Santa Maria hospital in Lisbon, Rui Rocha said he agreed with private maternity hospitals being contacted to resolve the situation.

“What we regret is that such a conclusion must be made before the system collapses. We need to change our approach,” he said.

In this context, Rui Rocha once again announced that in the coming days, the party will introduce a basic health law that will seek to “open the system” and put “users at the center of the solution.”

“In fact [o objetivo] is to guarantee access to all users under equal circumstances, whether they use a private or public provider, with the obvious guarantee of funding services, whether public or private, through the state,” he concluded.