“The professionals we do not hire and that we need for the NHS go to work in the private sector, thus increasing a health business that is elitist, while the majority of the population remains unprotected in their access to healthcare,” lamented the former leader of the Left Bloc (BE).
In Coimbra, speaking to journalists before participating in a panel of the OppAttune Winter Academy Programme, Catarina Martins stated that one of Portugal’s problems is the lack of investment in public services over many years to meet the demand.
Using the NHS as an example, the presidential candidate considered that the events occurring are “the result of a lack of investment that has prolonged for many years.”
“Knowing today that the Government decided to reduce hiring for the NHS is very dangerous because it means that if there are no more doctors and health professionals, people have two options—those who can pay will go private, and those who can’t will wait until it’s too late,” she argued.
For Catarina Martins, the Government’s announcement today of the appointment of Judge Carlos Alexandre to lead the Commission for Combating Fraud in the NHS “will not solve any problem.”
“For those who do not understand health, we already have the Minister of Health and it is not working,” she emphasized, highlighting that the announcement is “a smokescreen to avoid discussing the Government’s own responsibilities, which is taking resources away from hospitals that serve anyone.”
Highlighting the need for improper acts of administration to face accountability and for everyone to know what the Government is doing, Catarina Martins accused the Government of “creating news to hide what it is doing.”
Regarding the University of Coimbra’s project on combating political extremism, the former BE leader considered that at the moment, there is “a huge inequality problem in the European Union, where those who live off their work feel that their salary is worth less and less.”
“And extremisms grow that do not intend to solve this problem but create scapegoats, blaming the impoverished for the poverty of those who live off their work,” she said.
For the presidential candidate supported by the BE, “decent wages for all people” are needed as a measure for Europe to oppose ideas of discrimination, violence, and xenophobia in the future.
