“This situation is becoming increasingly critical, and if we speak of a housing crisis, I think we can also start to talk about an emergency services crisis,” stated the co-president of Volt during a campaign event at Hospital Beatriz Ângelo in Loures, Lisbon this morning.
Inês Bravo Figueiredo highlighted the challenges faced by emergency departments across the country’s hospitals, primarily due to a shortage of doctors to cover shifts. The head of the party’s Lisbon list stressed the need to assess the “human cost” of these constraints, warning that they could result in long-term health problems or even fatalities for the population.
“It’s time to activate crisis measures,” she advocated, suggesting that “it makes sense to bring in healthcare professionals from abroad temporarily” to assist struggling health units. Furthermore, she proposed recruiting doctors within Portugal who are not currently practicing due to having received training in other countries.
Despite this, the co-president of Volt Portugal acknowledged that there are cases where people utilize emergency services unnecessarily, which heightens the pressure on the system. She, therefore, supports the requirement to call SNS24 first.
However, she made a caveat: “If a person arrives at the emergency room without having called, I don’t think it makes sense to prevent them from entering without having them make the call outside.”
Inês Bravo Figueiredo added that healthcare services have deteriorated “in recent years,” noting that even though the SNS’s expenses have quintupled “since 2015,” this has not resulted in better health responses. Issues such as health professionals emigrating, unfilled medical internship vacancies, and “increasing waiting lists” were some of the problems she pointed out.
The party, which positions itself at the center, advocates for improving the careers and salaries of healthcare professionals, emphasizing merit. It also supports the return of public-private partnerships (PPP) in complementarity with the SNS, particularly in hospitals where they previously existed, such as Beatriz Ângelo, Vila Franca de Xira, or Braga.
They argue for the need to “reformulate” contracts with private health groups to include “clear criteria,” as well as “targets and penalties” for non-compliance.
The commitment to reinstating PPPs was, in fact, the reason Volt organized a campaign event this morning at Hospital Beatriz Ângelo, described as “one of the most emblematic PPPs in Lisbon.” Since the State decision to end the concession in 2022, it has reportedly seen “less positive results,” explained Inês Bravo Figueiredo.
Volt will be running in 20 out of the 22 electoral districts in the May 18 elections, having obtained 0.18% of the vote, equivalent to 11,854 votes, in the 2024 legislative elections.
