Fernando Araújo, the leading candidate for the PS in the Porto district, addressed a crowd at a rally lunch in Paços de Ferreira, Porto, attended by nearly a thousand people early this afternoon. Upon arrival, Pedro Nuno Santos was questioned about André Ventura’s recent indisposition.
“I exchanged messages (…) I wish him a quick recovery, the campaigns are tough, they are intense, and we have to respect that,” responded the PS leader.
In this speech, the candidate from Porto addressed issues such as the data revealing an increase in infant mortality during periods like the blackout or the INEM strike, stating that they have “a certainty” that this Ministry of Health “never assumes responsibility.”
“This is the pattern we’ve come to expect from the Ministry of Health. In crises, they disappear, they hide, there is no assumption of responsibility, nothing, and so I ask you comrades, is it in the AD that you want to trust the destiny of your health?” Fernando Araújo asked.
The former executive director of the National Health Service (SNS) focused his speech on the health sector and critiques of the Government’s actions over the past year.
“They are not governors, they are mere commentators,” he emphasized.
Recent reports indicated that the infant mortality rate in Portugal rose by 20% in 2024, a year marked by the closure of several gynecology and obstetrics emergency services.
Fernando Araújo claimed that the Ministry of Health was “quick to point the finger at everyone else.”
“Nothing is the responsibility of this Government, nothing, probably because they did nothing. And the formula is always the same; we saw this with INEM, when something happens, they quickly shift the blame to others and have nothing to do with it,” he stressed.
He added that during the recent energy failure crisis, “no information, no guidance came from the Ministry of Health; they just watched and commented, as if they had a blackout themselves.”
Fernando Araújo further stated that in the “embarrassed plan contained in the electoral plan of the AD, well-hidden to see if the Portuguese do not notice,” the objective “is clear, to destroy confidence in the SNS and thereby force Portuguese people to adhere to private systems.”
Therefore, for Fernando Araújo, it is time to choose “between strengthening the SNS or witnessing its destruction.”
[News updated at 14:06]
