The proposal put forth by the PSD and CDS parties was voted on in the Budget, Finance, and Public Administration Committee, with no abstentions and opposition from PS, Livre, PCP, BE, and PAN.
Under this measure, next year, the Government is expected to promote “actions and decisions aimed” at awarding PPP contracts whenever it results in health gains for users and benefits the public interest.
The proposal from the ruling coalition of the Government of AD highlights that PPPs have brought “manifestly positive results” in the SNS regarding productivity and the economic-financial performance of privately managed institutions, alongside high levels of efficiency, quality, and user satisfaction.
The document also states it is “regrettable” that between 2019 and 2022, the private management of the hospitals in Braga, Vila Franca de Xira, and Loures ended, as this led to a decline in service and assistance to populations.
“The PSD believes that the management of SNS health units should always adhere to the best and most qualified management practices, according to international standards, and that the law should not prevent innovative management experiments due to mere ideological state bias,” the proposal states.
On the third day of voting on amendments to the State Budget, deputies also approved a proposal from the PS parliamentary group, which provides for temporary access to primary health care for displaced students.
This amendment stipulates that next year, the Government will ensure displaced students have access to primary health care where they attend higher education, without a new permanent registration in the National Health Service.
It will be ensured through provisional registration at the health unit corresponding to their academic residence area, enabling access to primary care, coordinated with their home unit.
PS argued in its proposal that thousands of young people move annually from their home areas to study in other regions of the country, a mobility that should be met with appropriate SNS responses to overcome the lack of family doctors during academic terms.
The Livre party saw its proposals approved for the Government to conduct, by the end of the third quarter of 2026, a survey and inventory of SNS infrastructure requiring urgent rehabilitation and to implement a publicity campaign for the recently established National Suicide Prevention Line.
