At the Portuguese Communist Party’s national headquarters in Lisbon, communist leader Bernardino Soares asserted that “week after week, incidents and decisions reveal the increasing challenges facing the National Health Service (SNS).”
“The Government is far from ignoring this situation. It aligns with their long-held plan, which is to commercialize the right to health and, with this objective, significantly degrade the SNS,” he stated.
Soares argued that this path was “deliberately chosen by the government of Luís Montenegro, of the PSD and CDS, and does not depend on the continuation or resignation of the current Health Minister, notwithstanding her highly critical behavior and profoundly unjust and inhumane statements.”
“A direction that clearly benefits from the support of the extreme right – Chega and IL – and especially from the economic groups in the health sector, whether private providers, insurers, or others,” he criticized.
The Central Committee member of the PCP emphasized that the situation is worsening “in all areas” and accused the Government of consistently seeking “to absolve itself of responsibility concerning the severe situations of lack of access to healthcare, resulting from the closure or limitation of services.”
Among the array of criticisms directed at the SNS situation, Soares specifically mentioned “the severe condition of obstetric and pediatric emergency services,” the “ongoing devaluation of primary healthcare,” the “worsening of waiting lists for consultations and surgeries,” and the “ongoing departure and non-recruitment of healthcare professionals.”
Meanwhile, Soares pointed out that the Government is accelerating “privatization measures” within the SNS through the initiation of new public-private partnerships or the launch of family health units (USF) model C, “which equate to the privatization of primary healthcare.”
After voicing these criticisms, the PCP leader stressed the necessity of “immediate measures to reverse this situation,” specifically the “end of the privatization processes of the SNS management,” the valorization of healthcare professionals, or the reopening of essential services that have been shut down.
“It is imperative to defeat this Government’s offensive. The PCP will be at the forefront of defending the SNS and calls on all who value this significant achievement of the April Revolution to mobilize in its defense,” he urged.
