Fernando Araújo, who resigned from his position over a year ago, addressed journalists today after participating in the PS-backed sectoral session on the National Health Service (SNS), part of a series of debates aimed at updating the electoral program for the upcoming legislative elections.
“The Government and the Ministry of Health felt they lacked the capacity to manage the SNS, and it was preferable to hand over its management to others. What we observe around this table today is that there are better ways to manage the SNS. There are proposals, there are measures, there are choices we can make,” he stated.
The former executive director of the SNS voiced his opinion that “the Government and the Ministry of Health do not trust the SNS.”
“We believed in the SNS and its professionals. I think that is the big difference. Therefore, we leave here with the awareness that the work will be lengthy, demanding, and complex, but it is possible to breathe new life into the SNS, in which both users and professionals believe,” he countered.
Asked about his evaluation of the direction the executive board of the SNS is taking, Fernando Araújo expressed concern that extends beyond this structure, as the real issue is “the overall management of the SNS.”
“Much more than the executive board, it is the SNS as a whole that concerns us, the lack of vision and a plan for this management,” he lamented.
The doctor was questioned about the possibility of joining a future PS government as Minister of Health, but he considered this not an issue at the moment, as the focus is on “presenting the Portuguese with proposals and measures that people can believe in and that will protect the SNS.”
“That is with the degree of our great purpose at this moment. Everything else is inference,” he replied.
Regarding joining the lists of deputies, Fernando Araújo said that this was something for the PS to decide and that his role at present was to contribute ideas.
Recalling that in the elections just over a year ago, the AD promised that “within a short period, it would solve many health problems,” the doctor noted that this did not occur, citing the increase in patients without family doctors, longer waiting lists, and the closing of emergency services as examples.
“They promised us they would attract more health professionals, yet in the contests that took place during this period, we observed a lower adherence of professionals to the contests. They succeeded less in retaining people in the SNS,” he criticized, recalling the promises in health promotion for which he says there was no action.
Fernando Araújo also expressed concern about the accounts of the Directorate-General for Budget, observing “an uncontrolled, unaligned increase in expenditure with the budgeted.”
