“The minister said in Parliament, in response to Chega’s deputy Rui Cristina, she looked him in the eye and said, ‘when the report results come in, if any responsibility is to be assumed, I will be here to assume it.’ So, I would say today, looking the country in the eye, it is time to assume that responsibility,” stated André Ventura to journalists, following a meeting with the President of the Republic at the Belém Palace.
When asked if this responsibility should lead to a resignation, Ventura deferred the decision to the involved party and insisted that Ana Paula Martins “should not have entered” the government.
The Health Inspection General concluded that a patient who died of a heart attack in October in Bragança, after the INEM took an hour and twenty minutes to arrive, could have survived if help had been immediate, though it does not blame the workers.
In the conclusions of the inquiry accessed by Lusa, the Health Activities Inspection General (IGAS) stated that the patient, aged 86, who died of a myocardial infarction on October 31, 2024, during the pre-hospital emergency technicians’ strike, had a probability of survival, albeit reduced.
Ventura noted that this conclusion “goes straight to the heart of the Government and the Health Minister.”
“Report after report validates the position Chega has held from the beginning: responsibilities must be assumed when there are evident deaths happening in the health system due to the Government’s inaction,” he argued.
Ventura asserted that when a minister or a prime minister believes “political responsibilities should not be accounted for, we enter a country of total impunity.”
“I know the minister will say again that assuming responsibility is not about leaving, not about removing anyone from the team, it is about deciding and acting. However, three months, six months, nine months, a year, a year and a half, pass by, and no effective actions are taken,” he criticized.
