On the second day of the general debate of the State Budget for 2026 (OE2026) taking place in parliament, the PS chose health as a focal topic, accusing the Government of failing in this area and holding Prime Minister Luís Montenegro accountable for the “triple responsibility in the disappointment that the Portuguese feel today,” having raised expectations he “did not know how to meet.”
“Everyone in the SNS knows they are left to their own devices, and when something goes wrong, they face disempowerment, inspection, and, sooner or later, another resignation,” criticized Mariana Vieira da Silva, highlighting an “absence of strategy and resolution capacity.”
According to the PS deputy, OE2026 for health should allow “a discussion about the path being followed, but with the document presented, the fantasy is such that it makes any serious discussion impossible.”
“The exercise presented here completely reverses the SNS’s budgetary behavior in recent years, without stating anywhere what measures will be taken to justify these drastic changes,” she condemned.
Referring to a “much lower increase than in recent years” in budget transfers to the SNS, Mariana Vieira da Silva also pointed to the “10.1% reduction in the acquisition of goods and services,” considering that “no one missed” the speeches about cutting state excesses and intermediate consumption as a response to health problems.
“The question is simple: what is behind this number—are we returning to underbudgeting policy or will there be cuts? If there are cuts, where will they be? In medicines? In conventions? Have they given up on Type C Family Health Units? What numbers and measures justify this reduction?” the former minister questioned.
