BE ‘doesn’t forgive’ PS’s mistakes in healthcare, which right-wingers are ‘using to destroy the NHS’

BE coordinator Mariana Mortagua accused the PS and Marta Temido this Thursday of committing blunders in the field of health, which the PSD/CDS-PP government is now taking advantage of to “cowardly destroy the National Health Service.”

“No government official has the courage to say they want to end the SNA. But this is exactly what the government is cowardly doing. What is the PSD government doing? [e CDS-PP] what he is doing cowardly is to end SNS. Taking advantage of the mistake of the absolute majority of the PS,” says Mariana Mortagua, who took part in the BE election campaign in the European elections in Coimbra.

The bloc’s coordinator said BE “does not forgive” the PS and Marta Temido – head of the PS list in the June 9 European elections and former health minister – for “waging war against professionals” in the sector.

Recalling that previous socialist governments left “1.7 million users without a family doctor,” Mortagua resorted to figures from PS founder António Arnaut and blocker João Semedo to attack the socialists.

“We did not reject the generosity of Arnaut and Semedo’s response, unlike what the PS did. The truth is that the PS abandoned the legacy Arnaut left us, she despised this will. This mistake becomes an opportunity for the right.” , he asserted.

A day after Prime Minister Luis Montenegro unveiled the emergency health program, Mariana Mortagua launched several attacks on the minority government, saying she saw “a lot of Power Point, little commitment and no legislation.”

“In the best private consulting style, Powerpoint is actually a business plan for the private healthcare sector in Portugal. A roadmap of promises and benefits for customers, distribution of funds to companies owned by right-wing supporters, a liberal primer and another demonstration of the deep contempt of the right for those who support hospitals, for those who work in the SNS,” he accused.

Regarding the state budget for 2025, about which the President of the Republic has already left several warnings about its viability, Mariana Mortagua said that “she knows only one thing” about the document.

“First, it will transfer millions of taxpayer money into the coffers of private health care groups, and then reduce taxes on the profits of those private health care groups. The right only knows how to govern when it takes away what belongs to everyone to give to the few,” he defended.

Mariana Mortagua, sharply criticizing the new emergency care plan led by Luis Montenegro, noted that the proposals “push patients into private hospitals, replacing surgical checks that no one wants to use with ‘telephone vouchers’.” which she described as “a little weird”.

“Those on the waiting list will be called or repeatedly insisted that they go to a private hospital where they do not want to go. They learned nothing from failing surgical checks. They can even send carrier pigeons to people’s homes as they wish. This is their family doctor, in their public hospital, near their home, whom they trust,” he defended.

Regarding the European elections on June 9, Mariana Mortagua considered the head of the BE list, Catarina Martins, to be the candidate with the best preparation and called for the mobilization of left-wing voters.

“What will decide this election is whether people on the left will go to the polls on June 9th to vote, or whether the far right and the right will mobilize their people to vote for ideas of division, violence, racism, which is not the Europe , which we dream about.” and the post-war European project,” he warned.