José Luís Carneiro, the Secretary-General of the Socialist Party (PS), has demanded the Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, address concerns regarding hospital emergency services in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, particularly in pediatric, orthopedic, and obstetric specialties in the Setúbal Peninsula.
Speaking to journalists at a primary school in Sintra before the introduction of Ana Mendes Godinho’s candidacy for the municipality’s presidency, supported by PS and Livre, José Luís Carneiro posed three questions to the Prime Minister, anticipating answers “in the coming days.”
Firstly, the PS Secretary-General inquired whether the Government has or does not have an “emergency plan for managing hospital emergencies in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area, Lisbon, and the Tagus Valley.”
“The second question is why the Setúbal Peninsula has had days and weeks without an adequate response, particularly in pediatrics, orthopedics, and obstetrics,” he added.
The third question José Luís Carneiro wants the Prime Minister to address concerns “the Government’s announcement about deploying four aerial resources to support hospital emergencies, four helicopters.”
“This weekend, we learned that only one of these helicopters will be operational. The question is why these four aerial resources, intended to reinforce hospital emergencies, are not addressing the needs, and we continue to witness this lamentable and sad situation where mothers are losing their babies due to lack of adequate response,” he stated.
Alongside him were Sintra’s Mayor Basílio Horta, who cannot run again due to term limits, and PS candidate Ana Mendes Godinho. José Luís Carneiro welcomed the “good news” that a new hospital for the municipality will be “inaugurated on July 14.”
The PS Secretary-General highlighted that the new hospital “was entirely financially supported by the Sintra Municipal Council,” to whom he expressed gratitude, and represents an “investment exceeding 60 million euros.”
When questioned about the continuation of the current Health Minister, Ana Paula Martins, José Luís Carneiro retorted that the Prime Minister must answer “what is lacking for the Health Minister.”
“Are there insufficient human resources, financial resources? Has he looked into what is missing to meet what is an urgent need?” he questioned.
According to the PS Secretary-General, the Prime Minister “created several expectations regarding responses in this vital area” a year ago, “and so far, no one knows a response plan for hospital emergencies in three critical areas: obstetrics, pediatrics, and orthopedics.”
“INEM (National Institute of Medical Emergency), SNS24, mothers want to know where they can turn, and they don’t know where to go. This is unacceptable in the public response of the State, which pledged and seeks to guarantee a response in such a vital area for our collective life. We cannot, as a community, lightly witness what is happening,” he criticized.
