“I listened very carefully to the words of the President of the Republic [Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa] regarding health. Now, I will wait to understand what those words mean because, from our perspective, the Minister of Health and the Prime Minister have long failed in their proposals for health,” said José Luís Carneiro to journalists in Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto district).
After participating in a rally for the candidacy of former MP João Paulo Correia for the municipal council, and when asked if Minister Ana Paula Martins should have resigned or been dismissed, the socialist leader stated that “the primary responsible person is the Prime Minister,” Luís Montenegro.
“When policies don’t work, who is responsible? It’s the Prime Minister,” he emphasized, and when asked what he would do if he were in Luís Montenegro’s position, José Luís Carneiro responded that “more than saying what he would do,” he presented proposals.
The President of the Republic today stated that the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026) will be approved, as it is a “very sensitive year” in the execution of the PRR and will require confirming the country’s economic stability.
Lusa | 19:27 – 26/09/2025
“I presented him a proposal for managing the hospital emergency, which is actually related to practices that already exist in the United Kingdom, Spain, and France for managing hospital emergencies,” he stressed.
He also reminded that he asked Luís Montenegro in parliament, “what he did with the proposals,” considering that “the Prime Minister, in his arrogance, decided to disregard the Socialist Party.”
“These are attitudes that remain with those who practice them,” concluded José Luís Carneiro.
On Friday, regarding the conclusion of IGAS, which links the death of a man in Mogadouro, Bragança, with the INEM strike, the President of the Republic stated that the multiplication of cases creates a “diffuse idea that things are not going well” and demands a “great strain” on the Minister of Health.
For Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “it is worth looking at the whole” of cases and “drawing some conclusions,” which is why he promised to speak about the country’s health situation in the coming weeks.
When asked if the Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, should take political consequences, the President of the Republic only said that when failures in the health system’s response appear, “who comes to explain is not a spokesperson for the Ministry, it’s not a spokesperson for the Institute,” but rather the minister, without further details.
“I am verifying this, but I will later say how I see the overall background program that exists and how it perhaps should be resolved,” he concluded.
