The Liberal Initiative plans to summon “more than 50 people” to the Parliamentary Committee of Inquiry (CPI) to investigate political and management responsibilities at the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM). The list includes all health ministers since October 2019.
The party has indicated that former socialist ministers Marta Temido and Manuel Pizarro, as well as the current minister, Ana Paula Martins, will be called upon to testify.
The Liberal Initiative also wants to hear from the state secretaries responsible for the INEM since October 2019, including former health secretaries António Lacerda Sales and Margarida Tavares, as well as the current Secretary of State for Health Management, Cristina Vaz Tomé.
Other notable figures include executive directors of the National Health Service (SNS) – Fernando Araújo, António Gandra D’Almeida, and Álvaro Almeida – and past presidents of INEM, along with Leonor Furtado, president of the Independent Technical Commission (CTI).
Parliament approved the Committee in July, at the proposal of the Liberal Initiative, to investigate political, technical, contractual, legal, and financial responsibilities.
The parliamentary inquiry was approved with affirmative votes from Chega, the Liberal Initiative, Livre, the PCP, BE, PAN, and JPP, while the PSD, PS, and CDS-PP abstained.
The committee consists of 24 deputies: eight from PSD, five each from Chega and PS, two from the Liberal Initiative and Livre, one from the PCP, and one from CDS-PP.
The deputies have 90 days to determine the political, technical, contractual, legal, and financial responsibilities related to INEM, including the strike from late October to early November 2024.
The inquiry will also scrutinize management decisions made during the strike’s preparation and execution phases, focusing on the adequacy and impact on service operation, and assess the political responsibility of participants in the strike, including the role of various entities in defining and adhering to minimum services.
The CPI will further evaluate the political oversight relationships with INEM and clarify the involvement of all governments since 2019 in the “political and financial management” of the institute.
