During the state of the nation debate in the Assembly of the Republic, Paulo Raimundo questioned, “What state is a nation in when pregnant women and children face closed emergency and health services?”
“What state is a nation in when there is a shortage of doctors, nurses, healthcare professionals, and its government takes not a single structural measure to solve this problem?” he asked.
Referring to Luís Montenegro’s opening speech, where the prime minister argued that “the country is better and the lives of the Portuguese are better,” the general secretary of the PCP stated that “the lives of the people and the real country pass by” the executive chief and the “bubble” he lives in.
“I know you miss the ‘troika,’ Mr. Prime Minister, we know that. And that is why you want even more job insecurity, more hours, more working time, you still want to further attack the rights of those who create wealth (…) and you want to pave the way for an assault on Social Security,” he accused.
For the general secretary of the PCP, the government’s propaganda and “communication agency” “is good, shows extraordinary skills, but does not erase the reality of difficult living conditions and a country held by threads.”
“Life is difficult, prices increase for food, health costs, medications, (…) it’s the social housing dilemma with people being evicted and not a word about it. It’s a school year that will begin without vacancies in nurseries, preschools, and without the necessary teachers for it,” he said.
In contrast, he continued, “for those who think they own everything, everything is grand: support, benefits, concentration of wealth, and the transfer of that wealth to tax havens.”
“On that, not a word from the prime minister, nor from his government, but also not a word from those who support this policy,” he said, before accusing Luís Montenegro of using the “far-right as a can opener.”
“The far-right paves the way and your government implements a dangerous option which surely embarrasses even members of your own party. They divide tasks, a few spats here, a few spats there, as we saw, but at the end of the day, they are all there affirming the services of the financiers,” he accused.
After this intervention, Luís Montenegro addressed Paulo Raimundo’s criticism of missing the ‘troika’ by saying that other parliamentary benches accuse him of being election-focused.
“It goes from one extreme to another, exactly with the policies, which is curious. I don’t miss one thing, nor am I worried about the other, I am simply focused on meeting the aspirations of the Portuguese,” he said.
He then focused most of his response to Paulo Raimundo on the health issue, listing various statistics to show that the government is seeking solutions for the sector, specifically that in the last year, a family doctor was assigned “to more than 141,509 Portuguese,” there were 736,000 more hospital specialty consultations, and “surgeries increased by 5.4%.”
Concerning the attractiveness of careers in the SNS, Luís Montenegro stated that the government reached an agreement with nurses, doctors, pharmacists, senior diagnostic and therapeutic technicians, and the pre-hospital emergency technicians’ union.
“Honestly, do you think we are not making an effort to provide better working conditions for health professionals, valuing the SNS? Wouldn’t the communist party (…) be the first to congratulate the government for once and say: ‘this government does more than the previous government?'” he questioned.
