Pedro Nuno visited construction work at the new hospital in Sintra and called for investment in the National Health Service.

On Tuesday, the PS secretary general visited the construction of a new hospital in Sintra, where he stressed that it is an example of what the PS wants to multiply and “do throughout the country” and called for investment in the SNS.

Accompanied by the Mayor of Sintra, Basilio Horta (elected by the PS) and the head of the Lisbon PS list, Governor Mariana Vieira da Silva, Pedro Nuno Santos was this morning in Algheiran Mem Martins, in the district of Lisbon. to visit the new hospital in Sintra.

At a cost of more than $45 million, financed from the state budget and the municipality of Sintra (the equipment is financed by the PRR), the new hospital is expected to go into operation on July 29 – a slight delay compared to the original forecast. , which was in the first quarter of this year – and has a target population of 200 thousand people.

“It’s beautiful, it’s like a hotel,” Basilio Horta told Pedro Nuno Santos upon entering, before visiting the various areas of the hospital, such as the convalescent wards, the operating room or the recovery room.

In total, the new hospital will initially have 60 beds in its convalescent unit but could be expanded to add a further 60 beds. It will include specialties such as cardiology, ophthalmology, neurology, physical and rehabilitation medicine or otolaryngology.

Speaking to reporters at the end of the visit, Pedro Nuno Santos said the trip served to show what “good things are being done in the country, here thanks to the excellent coordination between the municipality, which invests in construction and administration, in equipment and services from the hospital “

“This is an example of what we want to continue to do across the country: investing in our NHS, in our hospitals, in our health centres. This is the way forward, it is not a rejection of the NHS, quite the opposite,” he stressed.

In these statements to journalists, Pedro Nuno Santos was also questioned about the fact that at the rally this Monday in Coimbra, he emphasized the dialogue that he established with this invention, but believed that only a vote for the PS could defeat the right.

The Socialist leader said that he wanted to appeal to the “concentration of votes” in the PS, emphasizing that “nothing else can be expected” from him.

“I am just the leader of the PS and I really want to mobilize votes for the PS so that we can win the elections, so that we can continue to transform Portugal, so that people can live better in Portugal. It depends on the PS’s victory,” he said.

Pedro Nuno Santos reiterated that the PS is proud of the work done over the past eight years, despite admitting that “not everything is good” and that “we must continue to move forward.”

“What we don’t want and can’t do is go backwards. This is what we offer the Portuguese: continue to transform the country, invest in our public services, increase wages and pensions,” he said.

Asked about statements by FENPROF Secretary General Mario Nogueira, who criticized the PS’s proposal to encourage retired teachers to teach to meet the needs of public schools, Pedro Nuno Santos said the measure was temporary.

“For now this is a transitional measure. In the meantime, we must look for every opportunity to respond to the needs of our students,” he stressed, before mentioning that in the same speech he also defended the need to value and make teaching careers more attractive

“I talked about completely replacing seniority, increasing pay rates at the beginning of a career to make it more attractive. I was talking about this only as a transitional measure,” he added.