Ventura believes the health care plan has failed and the industry is at an explosive moment.

On Tuesday, President Chegi said the government’s health plan had failed and that the sector was at an explosive moment due to worrying news about the functioning of the system.

“What we have in health is explosive. There has been no reorganization of services, no agreements with professionals that would satisfy them, and we have a large influx of tourists in addition to the influx of immigrants,” André Ventura told reporters at the start of a visit to the Livramento market in Setúbal.

“Every day we receive alarming news about the functioning of the health system: from pregnant women who are denied care in Caldas da Rainha to people who wait for hours in the metropolises of Lisbon and Porto. It is time to say that this plan has failed,” he said.

Andre Ventura believed that the government “must have the humility to take another look at this important issue and see what is wrong.”

“It is not just pouring money in that is wrong, this is what the PS has already done, it is actually reorganising health care,” said President Cégi, calling on the Prime Minister and the Minister of Health to interrupt their holidays if necessary to see what is happening in emergency departments in Portugal.

President Chegi said that “people are again very concerned about the functioning of health care, just like a year ago” and that the current government “has not changed anything in this regard.”

Andre Ventura advocated decentralization of services with appropriate scale of operation and good communication.

“Services will work better in all districts if people know where to go and don’t wander around looking for a service that’s open at 1 or 2 in the morning. We need to decentralise, pay better and reorganise services with better connectivity,” he said.

According to information published on the National Health Service (SNS) portal, four emergency gynecology/obstetrics services in Lisbon and Vale do Tejo (Santa Maria Hospitals in Lisbon, Setúbal and Almada) and Santo André Hospital in Leiria.

During his visit to the Livramento market in Setubal, President Chegi also warned about security issues, considering it a serious problem.

“I think it’s time for the country to think seriously about what is needed in terms of security. And there is one fundamental thing: there are more police officers and they are better paid. The government can perhaps now admit that it made the biggest mistake of its legislature when it decided not to correct the historical injustice that the PS created in the security forces,” he said.