Pedro Nuno Santos expressed these views during the opening of the sectoral session on the National Health Service (SNS), attended by former SNS executive director Fernando Araújo and former director-general of Health Graça Freitas.
“We were promised that all Portuguese citizens would have a family doctor by the end of 2025, and today we know that there are 36,000 more Portuguese without a family doctor than there were in February of last year,” Santos criticized.
Highlighting a “chaotic management of emergency services” and an “incompetent handling of the INEM strike with dramatic results,” among other sector issues like the difficulty in hiring and retaining healthcare professionals, the PS leader drew a conclusion.
“This is perhaps the area, not the only one, but the area of greatest failure of those who are currently governing the country,” he accused.
For the socialist leader, the PS, as the “founding party of the SNS,” has an even greater responsibility to show the Portuguese people that a well-functioning service that provides security and trust is possible.
Pedro Nuno Santos noted that a year ago there was a promise from AD that solving complex problems in the SNS was easy and quick, something he claims did not happen, asserting that the current government added instability to an already struggling sector.
One of the most challenging topics, according to the PS leader, is the SNS’s ability to recruit and retain professionals, pointing to the “growing number of freelance doctors” in various hospitals.
With “health in Portugal focused on hospitals” and their operations, the PS leader believes that “the dimension of prevention must gain centrality” in the SNS.
“We need to pay more attention to primary healthcare and community care,” he advocated.
Mental health and dental health are areas that Pedro Nuno Santos argues need to gain “more space” and have “greater investment and public attention,” with “greater weight in the SNS.”
“Today it is clear that the solutions brought by AD are not working. The PS has the obligation to present good solutions, good people, with competence,” he said, considering the contributions of those participating in this panel to be crucial for the party to improve its political response in health.
[News updated at 17:21]
