José Luís Carneiro spent part of his morning visiting the Garcia de Orta Hospital in Almada, Setúbal district, where he was asked about the political conditions for Ana Paula Martins to continue as Minister of Health.
“The minister lost her political authority a long time ago,” he replied.
Nevertheless, the PS leader stressed that “the main person responsible is the Prime Minister” because “he decided to keep the minister, who had already lost political authority” since the INEM strike “where no one took responsibility for what happened.”
Carneiro accused the government of failing “on all fronts in its commitments to the Portuguese people in the health sector.”
“I will speak on another lack of seriousness that is evident in the Prime Minister’s statements in Caldas da Rainha regarding the location of the Hospital do Oeste, which, according to a planned technical evaluation, had determined that Bombarral was the location for the Hospital do Oeste. However, a deputy made public statements,” he said.
The PS leader challenged journalists to listen to the statements of PSD deputy Hugo Oliveira — who is running for the Caldas da Rainha City Council — and Luís Montenegro to draw “conclusions on how public interest is defined” in health.
Amid persistent questions from journalists on the socialist stance on the matter, Carneiro stated: “my position is a lack of sense of state.”
Another health-related issue criticized by the PS Secretary-General was the government’s announced reform, particularly regarding emergency and hospital urgency services.
“This reform must be carried out by listening first to local authorities. I regret that, despite requests for a meeting with the Health Minister from the mayors of this metropolitan area, there has been no response from the Health Minister and even less from the Prime Minister,” he criticized.
Therefore, Carneiro expressed “a word of concern, at a special moment in collective life, regarding the choices made for local authorities.”
“I would like to remind the Prime Minister that it is not possible to carry out reforms in such a sensitive area of people’s lives, which is health, without listening to, involving, motivating, and mobilizing the local authorities for this reform,” he said.
The PSD president promised the day before, in Caldas da Rainha, that the decision about the future Hospital do Oeste would only be made after “a thorough and well-founded evaluation process.”
Luís Montenegro was speaking at a rally dinner supporting the PSD/CDS-PP candidate for the Caldas Rainha City Council, current deputy Hugo Oliveira.
Hours before this dinner, PS deputies elected from the Leiria circle had already questioned the Health Minister through parliament about the new Hospital do Oeste, arguing that contradictory statements from municipal candidates threaten the transparency of the process.
“In recent days, in the context of the municipal campaign, public statements have emerged regarding the future Hospital do Oeste that raise concerns about the transparency and technical rigor of the decision-making process,” deputies Catarina Louro and Eurico Brilhante Dias stated in a query directed today to Health Minister Ana Paula Martins.
In 2023, the then Health Minister, Manuel Pizarro (PS), announced that the new Hospital do Oeste would be built in Quinta do Falcão, in Bombarral, Leiria district, a process meanwhile suspended by the current PSD/CDS-PP executive.
