“We are very much in favor of policy informed by data, and the data shows that public-private partnerships have led to a reduction in costs without compromising service quality, in some instances even with improvements,” stated the leader and top candidate of the party for the Lisbon district.
The Volt candidate, politically positioning the pan-European party between the PS and PSD, emphasized that “whenever there are good contracts that allow for less spending,” the party is “quite supportive” of PPPs in healthcare.
Speaking to journalists near the Sintra Hospital, which has yet to open to the public, Duarte Costa remarked that the emphasis on digitalization “will resolve many situations complicating access to something as essential as healthcare.”
“This is a good infrastructure, but it lacks healthcare professionals to ensure the provision of medical services,” said the co-president.
The party aims to create incentives to attract more doctors to internal medicine, general, and family medicine, while simultaneously developing a digital health system to increase the number of consultations and expedite service.
“We want to invest in telemedicine,” he said, highlighting that “for many simpler forms of care, digital and remote attention is possible, meaning that doctors can treat more patients per hour and make access easier for people.”
With three party members separating the candidate from the entrance of the new hospital, Duarte Costa stressed his determination to visit the facility as he could not accept that “such an important infrastructure for the entire municipality” has been “closed for months.”
“We want the NHS to have the capacity to respond to Sintra’s population, which is a growing municipality facing chaos in healthcare and public transportation. We need to acknowledge that these suburban areas of the Lisbon metropolitan area require more efficient responses to significant demographic growth,” he added.
On April 11, the clinical director for the hospital area of the Local Health Unit (USL) Amadora/Sintra announced that the new hospital, still closed, will open “as soon as possible” to enhance surgical response and ease the burden on non-urgent cases at the Fernando Fonseca Hospital, with full operationalization of the General Surgery Service expected by the end of May.
