The former health minister says she gave no guidance about Portuguese-Brazilian children who were treated for spinal muscular atrophy in Portugal and that the girls should have been treated even though they did not live in the country.
In an interview with Público and Rádio Renascença, Marta Temido states that the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, has referred more cases to the government than these two, and that this has always been a “normal” procedure.
Asked what her involvement was in the case, the former minister replied: “I had no contact with the President of the Republic on this matter, and I did not give any instructions regarding the treatment of these children.”
We are talking about a TVI report aired at the beginning of November, according to which two Portuguese-Brazilian twins came to Portugal in 2019 to receive the drug Zolgensma – one of the most expensive in the world – for spinal muscular atrophy, for a total of only four million Euro.
According to TVI, there were suspicions that this happened under the influence of the President of the Republic, who, however, denied any interference in the matter.
The former Minister of Health, who has already expressed her readiness to provide any clarification requested by Parliament, the public ministry (MP) or health organizations on this matter, adds that neither the MP nor the Inspector General has yet contacted her. Health Activity (IGAS), which announced the start of the process.
In an interview published this Thursday, Marta Temido states that “the law is clear”, that what matters is citizenship and therefore Portugal must treat the children.
Regarding the process, he adds that he had to “go and redo the paperwork” of what might have passed through his hands, and discovered that a request to verify what was happening with this case had been sent to the Ministry of Health along with other requests. .
“This is a normal pattern. What the Ministry of Health did with this document, coming from the office of the Prime Minister and forwarding the document from the Civil Chamber of the President of the Republic, was normal,” he states.
He further explains that the letter from the Civil Chamber of the President of the Republic was “accompanied by other requests from other users” and followed the usual procedure: “The forwarding was carried out to the institutions to which the complaint, claim, difficulty or exposure was directed. “.
Along with the letter, he adds, came “medical information and citizenship cards for the two children”: “There was no contact on this topic between the President of the Republic and the Minister of Health,” he insisted.
He says that he does not have shipping documents for other organizations outside the Ministry of Health, and that he has with him a response to the child’s parents, given by one of the entities, in this case Infarmed, that the medicine was “in the process of European evaluation “
Regarding the decision to treat children, he states: “If there is a note that there are two children who need treatment, if the children have national documents from our country, then it would be normal for the children to be treated in our country.” and, therefore, the usual referral was sufficient, which was done by the Ministry of Health for the establishment.”
He states that he still does not understand the “discomfort of Santa Maria doctors insisting that “the law is clear” and that nationality is the main thing.
The former head of the health department says she hopes the investigation will look at three questions: “whether there was improper interference; whether children should be treated and, ultimately, whether the medicine used should be the right one.” or it must be someone else.”
In addition to IGAS, the case is also being investigated by the Ministry of Justice.