Luís Montenegro and Pedro Nuno Santos were almost entirely at odds over health issues during the televised debate between the two, broadcast simultaneously by RTP, SIC, and TVI from the Carcavelos Campus of Nova University Lisbon.
The president of the PSD asserted that the current Government has “transformed the National Health Service (SNS), reducing the wait times for scheduling and conducting consultations and surgeries,” despite the persistence of “many constraints.”
The Prime Minister and leader of the AD – a PSD/CDS-PP coalition – claimed that the SNS’s functioning “worsened significantly over the last eight years, under the leadership of Pedro Nuno Santos, and, incidentally, by the one heralded as the great hope of the PS for health,” Fernando Araújo, a former Secretary of State and former executive director of the SNS, who is leading the socialist list for Porto.
“I appreciate that Luís Montenegro mentioned Fernando Araújo because he is indeed one of the most consensual figures in the health sector in Portuguese society, praised by many personalities from the right, even, I believe, by the candidate for President of the Republic supported by AD,” responded Pedro Nuno Santos.
The PS Secretary-General criticized that health “is indeed the area where the AD Government has failed the most.”
“And directly and personally by Luís Montenegro, who made the Portuguese believe that solving health problems was easy and quick,” argued the socialist leader.
According to the Prime Minister, over the last year, the Government improved the pay scales and career progression for health professionals, reached an agreement with doctors, and focused on creating more family health units of type B or C.
Regarding public-private partnerships (PPP) in the health sector, it was argued that they enable better management and attributed ideological biases to the PS.
“In the eight years before us, the [socialist] governments were tied down by ideological constraints, which are indeed very close to the political thinking of Pedro Nuno Santos and those who were his privileged partners in governance and who are expected to be so in any potential government he envisions: the BE or the PCP,” he accused.
It was also noteworthy that, in this segment of the debate, Luís Montenegro committed that in terms of a plan for general and family medicine, he promised to try to provide a response for all priority citizens by the end of 2025.
“But I’m honest: we couldn’t achieve that result by the end of 2025. As soon as possible, I want to fulfill that aim, but I won’t specify a date because I don’t yet have enough elements to do so,” he argued.
This prompted the PS Secretary-General to state that Luís Montenegro “made the Portuguese believe that solving health problems was easy and quick.”
“He promised family doctors for all users, and now we have over 50,000 more users without family doctors than we did a year ago.”
On the topic of public-private partnerships (PPP) in health, Pedro Nuno Santos accused the Government of intending “to hand over to PPP five hospitals and over 170 health centers without providing proper justification.”
In contrast, he advocated for granting greater management autonomy to hospital administrations.
“I am confident that with greater autonomy and management flexibility, our hospitals can be better managed without having to hand them over to private management,” he added.
[News updated at 22:42]
