President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated on Wednesday that cases of fraud involving the National Health Service (SNS) by professionals are not unprecedented and emphasized the importance of defining “what is public, private, and social,” as “without this definition, multiple cases arise.”
“You know this is not the first, second, third, or fourth occurrence, and it is an issue to be resolved globally,” said the President when questioned about a doctor detained today for defrauding the state by prescribing false prescriptions.
“A few weeks ago, I mentioned the importance of a global health system perspective, which involves not just a regime agreement, but more importantly, determining what should be public, private, and social. Defining the terms under which work is done in the public sector, the type of regime, and then how the National Health Service (SNS) is managed,” he told journalists in Leiria.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa emphasized that “this definition is a preliminary condition” and that “without this definition, several cases, multiple cases, different cases arise.”
“It’s crucial to set rules regarding what is public, how the public functions, the role of private and social interventions, and how they can collaborate. Without very clear rules, fluid boundaries remain, leading to constant discussions about specific cases instead of achieving the necessary system-wide clarification,” he said.
On Wednesday, an endocrinologist suspected of prescribing antidiabetic medications for weight loss purposes was detained as part of Operation Obélix and is expected to be questioned on Thursday for a first judicial interrogation to determine the coercive measures to be applied.
Additionally, it was disclosed that two employees of a family health unit in the northern region of the country, detained by the Judicial Police (PJ), allegedly registered 10,000 immigrants in the National Health Service (SNS) over a year and a half, according to an investigative source.
Frauds in SNS? “I don’t know what happened,” says Ana Paula Martins
The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, admitted on Wednesday that she does not know “what happened” in the two fraud cases revealed on the same day.
Speaking to journalists during a visit to the Convento dos Capuchos in Sintra, Ana Paula Martins declined to comment on the detention of two family health unit employees in the north by the PJ.
“We will not comment as it is under judicial investigation, and we will naturally wait for developments,” the minister stated.
The two employees in question are suspected of registering 10,000 immigrants in the National Health Service (SNS) who did not meet the necessary criteria over one and a half years.
The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, admitted having no knowledge of what occurred in the two fraud cases that led to three arrests by the Judicial Police, as announced on Wednesday.
Carolina Pereira Soares with Lusa | 16:54 – 19/11/2025
