The Secretary-General of the Socialist Party (PS), Pedro Nuno Santos, emphasized on Wednesday that the Health sector was where the Government “promised the most” and “failed the most,” asserting that the socialists not only have “the answers” but also the “competence” to “solve the problems” of the National Health Service (SNS).
Speaking to journalists after visiting the Hospital de Santa Maria in Lisbon, the PS leader explained that the purpose of the visit was to “highlight the priority that the PS wants to place on the SNS.”
Pedro Nuno Santos criticized the current administration, stating that we have a Government that promised to “solve problems,” yet a year later, the SNS is “in worse condition than it was.”
“This is the area where Luís Montenegro failed the most and also the one where he promised the most,” he criticized, arguing that the “government’s focus was on diverting resources to the private sector.”
When asked whether the goal was to prepare for a face-off with the PSD president and Prime Minister, Luís Montenegro, he denied such intentions. “It is not to prepare for the debate. We are in a campaign, we want to engage with the Portuguese people and instill confidence in an area that is fundamental,” he stated.
He further pointed out that the PS has “people with competence, with experience” capable of changing the situation.
“The PS not only has the answers but also has the experience and necessary competence to solve the problems of the SNS,” he defended.
When asked if Fernando Araújo, the former executive director of the SNS and the PS’s top candidate in Porto, who stood beside him, could be the next Minister of Health, Pedro Nuno Santos refrained from “forming” a government but did not rule out the possibility.
“As is evident, we have in Fernando Araújo a person of utmost competence, respected, and consensual in Portuguese society, who obviously provides security to the PS project and to myself in leading a government,” he confessed.
It is noteworthy that Pedro Nuno Santos and Luís Montenegro face each other today in a televised debate taking place in the final stretch of the pre-campaign and three weeks before the early legislative elections. The debate, which will be broadcast simultaneously by RTP, SIC, and TVI from the Nova SBE in Carcavelos, was initially scheduled for Monday but was postponed due to a blackout that affected Portugal and Spain.
[News updated at 12:00]
