Leader Chegi on Tuesday called on the President of the Republic to force the government to take action to ensure that the National Health Service provides the necessary response during World Youth Day.
At a press conference in Lisbon, Andre Ventura said that this morning the party sent a letter to the President of the Republic and also sent a “message” to Marcelo Rebel de Souza.
The Chega leader referred to a three-day nationwide strike by doctors in the public sector and pointed out that nurses and pharmacists “are now in the midst of a struggle that is having an impact on the entire country.”
Pointing out that World Youth Day (WYD) starts in a week in Lisbon, where a million people are expected, he said that “there are several health sectors that are preparing strikes” during this period, and criticized the position of Minister Manuel Pizarro, considering that “this is nothing more than a continuation of the endless rounds of negotiations that have been going on since 2022 and do not reach any solution.”
André Ventura pointed to “a clear lack of funds, a lack of clarity across sectors and subsectors, and a chronic failure to have the human resources to respond to the most difficult months” and felt that this vision was “in stark contrast” to the Minister of Health’s speech during the State of the Nation debate, which provided “a false sense of security”.
The MP asked the government to “react quickly to these problems” and called on the President of the Republic “to have the opportunity, firmness and authority to call this government to reason in terms of health” and “to force the government to respond these days.”
“Only one authority in the country can force this response, and that is the President of the Republic,” he defended, asking Marcelo Rebela de Sousa, “with his authority, his attention and his demand to impose speed on the government in this health response process.”
Andre Ventura also indicated that Chega asked the government “at what stage are negotiations with the healthcare sector to prevent the continuation of strikes and protests planned for the WYD days”, and “at what stage are the rounds of negotiations with the pharmaceutical and nursing sector going to prevent a significant shutdown of the WYD.”
“We risk creating chaos in the city and in the country in the coming days,” he warned.
Chega’s president said he was in “deep solidarity” with the struggling sectors, but asked these professionals to reconsider “whether these days are the best for stops of this size”, asking that “they don’t make pilgrims and the Portuguese pay for government incompetence.”
Ventura noted that “there are problems that cannot be solved by surgical or concrete measures alone”, and stated that “it is necessary to act quickly” and that the government has “several days to guarantee medical care capable of meeting the needs of hundreds of thousands of people in the city of Lisbon” for WYD, “adding to the record level of tourism”.
“The Portuguese state has an obligation to provide quality medical services in a really useful and demanding time frame and qualified resources in our day,” he defended, believing that the Minister of Health “did nothing on this issue.”
Pointing out that “it’s impossible to look away and not notice a bloodletting in which the SNS becomes absolutely machine bound,” leader Chega defended measures such as “significant salary increases for physicians who devote themselves exclusively” to the SNS, “a 50 percent increase in medical education” at universities, and “bringing the best specialists to the healthcare service with a variable pay scale.”
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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