PS accuses the government of bringing “instability to the SNS” and refusing to learn “lessons from the SDP”

On Tuesday, the PS accused the government of bringing “instability to the NHS” by abandoning the reforms carried out by the previous executive and abandoning the SDP’s “moral lessons” on the issue.

“In the last few months, we have seen that the government has been introducing instability into the SNS instead of taking care to overcome the difficulties, and when at the beginning of this mandate the government tried to question the functions of the executive, the change in the direction of the executive and its way of working has created additional pressure on Leta, which is now visible today, with very little transparency in the work of emergency services and great instability in responding to the needs of citizens,” defended the Socialist MP Mariana Vieira da Silva.

The former minister spoke to reporters at the Santa Maria Hospital in Lisbon after a delegation of Socialist MPs met with the institution’s administration this afternoon.

Asked about the challenge posed by PSD parliamentary leader Hugo Soares, who advised the PS to “put its hand on its conscience” and acknowledge that unity was needed to rebuild the National Health Service from the “collapse that has occurred over the last eight years.” In the area of ​​governance, Mariana Vieira da Silva rejected the lessons.

“I apologize, but I do not accept the lessons of the SDP on this matter. Because what we are experiencing is a worsening of the situation compared to last year. And this worsening of the situation compared to last year is due to the dismantling of the structures and the organization that Professor Fernando Araujo and the executive management carried out in emergency situations,” he insisted.

The former minister in the António Costa government, now deputy, said she would never be able to escape the responsibility of the PS government, “but that was precisely what was missing: she was unable to monitor how problems were being solved on the ground and was not in a position to criticise.”

Mariana Vieira da Silva stressed that “from the point of view of the PSD, in relations with the private sector there is an investment aspect, not an increase in public sector investments, and the PS should not”, but the socialists are ready to talk about the issues of the careers of health workers.

“Now we cannot hide that what we have seen since March has been the dismantling of what was done, the dismissal of people, the creation of instability that starts in the executive leadership and ends in INEM,” he stressed.

According to the Socialist, the government created the expectation of solving a complex problem in 60 days, and now it must respond to the expectations it created “but did not live up to,” leaving services “worse than last summer.”

“We know that the problem is not new, but it has tools that need to be addressed, such as full commitment, integrated responsibility centers, mechanisms that allow professionals to receive higher salaries so that they can settle in the territories,” he said.

Although the SNS portal indicates that the emergency obstetric care in Santa Maria is closed, the president of the board of directors of the local medical center of Santa Maria (ULSSM), Carlos Martins, clarified that this information is incorrect and rejected any situation of chaos in the hospital.

The person in charge stressed that at the moment, emergency obstetric care is only available to pregnant women up to 22 weeks. However, “for the safety of the pregnant woman and her family, if a situation is identified, even during 22 weeks, and intervention is required in the surgical unit”, “a surgical unit room in the central block” will be opened.

The new maternity hospital, Maternidade Luís Mendes da Graça, which began operations in the last quarter of 2023, will be ready on September 1.

Carlos Martins defended the clarity and complementarity of responses between the public and private sectors and warned of the need to value human resources.

“We can have the best conditions, we can have the best technology, and we can have the most doors open. Now the essential and determining factor is called human capital. Human capital must be, I would say, in quantity for there to be quality,” he warned.