José Luís Carneiro attended the Amadora BD this morning, an international comic book festival, where he spoke to reporters about a proposal made the previous day by the President of the Republic for a political agreement regarding the role of the SNS, the social sector, and the private sector in healthcare.
“If you want the PS’s contribution, you must acknowledge that you have failed, because the Government was quick to criticize PS governments in the health area. The PS governments presented solutions and had a reform in progress, which the Government decided to dismantle. It chose to structurally change what was being done without assessing the results,” he argued.
According to José Luís Carneiro, the executive under Luís Montenegro should “publicly declare whether it needs the support of the Socialist Party or not” because “it seems the Government is dismissing PS support.”
“If it were sensitive to the proposals, perhaps some of the serious problems experienced in the summer would not have occurred,” he stated, challenging the Government to respond to the proposal the PS made for managing hospital emergencies.
Carneiro asserted that “the Portuguese know” that the PS is always “on the side of solutions and proposals,” which is why it took the initiative to present various measures, including those pertaining to healthcare.
“So, who is responsible for these decisions? Is it the opposition leader? No. It is the prime minister, who is the leader of the Government and promised simple solutions but dismissed the progress being made to provide a structural response with better organization, more efficiency, and good resource management,” he stated.
The PS leader emphasized the notion of a “blatant failure” in healthcare, pointing the blame at the prime minister, accusing the Government of proposing “a 10% cut in the National Health Service by 2026.”
“I ask if it is credible that, with a two billion deficit this year and a projected one billion deficit per year, cuts of 10% in healthcare expenses are feasible. Does anyone believe what the prime minister is telling the country?” he questioned.
The President of the Republic suggested on Thursday a political agreement regarding the role of the SNS, the social sector, and the private sector in healthcare, aiming for a medium-term framework.
Speaking at ISCTE — University Institute of Lisbon during the closing of a conference marking the 50th anniversary of the Periphery Medical Service (SMP), Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa criticized the constant changes in health policy with successive governments.
The head of state stated that the Government must first decide whether or not to reach an agreement, but “even without an agreement, it must one day make a decision about this: what should be the SNS, what should be the social sector, and what should be the profitable private sector – with enough flexibility to consider interactions.”
