The interests of the national PSD do not always coincide with the interests of the island PSDs and this became clear on Monday, with references from Luís Montenegro and Miguel Albuquerque (leader of PSD/Madeira and the regional government) to health issues. While the president of the national PSD criticized the governance in this sector, Albuquerque, for his part, stressed that he has a “good relationship” with the Treasury Secretary, saying that the problem of handover delays for the construction of the new hospital in Funchal will be “solved”.
The two spoke to journalists in Funchal on the sidelines of Montenegro and Albuquerque’s joint visit to the area surrounding construction work on the new hospital ward in Madeira, as part of the PSD president’s visit to the region during the Sentir Portugal trip. The contrast could hardly have been greater.
On national health issues, Montenegro accused the government of “mis-spending money in public administration”, challenging the Prime Minister and Health Minister to “speak the truth” about management in this sector. “It is good that António Costa and Manuel Pizarro speak the truth to the country once and for all. Stop hiding what they do every day, because people say one thing and do another,” he said.
“The SNS is now moving closer to collapse, not for financial reasons, but for reasons of attracting and retaining staff. [o que obriga a] creating conditions for professionals to feel fulfilled and attracted to a career within the SNS.”
As he added, in recent years the government has “made every effort to nationalize the National Health Service”. However, these policies resulted in the growth of private health care in Portugal, resulting in stagnation and a decrease in the ability to provide health care in the SNS. In health centers and public hospitals, there is “the permanent and constant resource to provide services for members to respond.” In other words: “The socialist government wants everything in the state and then, through the back door, without anyone noticing, will outsource the services to the private sector at a price higher than what it could afford if it were well managed and organized”. This means that “the SNS is now increasingly on the verge of collapse, not for financial reasons, but for reasons of attracting and retaining human resources”, which requires “creating conditions for professionals to feel fulfilled and attracted to a career within the SNS”.
“We asked for a reshuffle because we need the money faster. We need to get the money in faster to pay the companies.”
Regarding the new hospital (under construction) in Funchal, Miguel Albuquerque spoke of the “good relationship” that exists with the Minister of Finance, Fernando Medina, and also spoke of the decision taken a few days ago by the Council of Ministers, where it was decided to update the model of financial support for the construction, supervision of the contract and the purchase of medical and hospital equipment for the structure. “We have asked for a reshuffle because we need the money faster. We need to get the money faster to pay the companies,” said the president of the regional government of Madeira.
On Saturday, PS deputy Carlos Pereira told Diário de Notícias da Madeira that the decision of the government of the Republic includes the sale of the current property of Hospital Dr. Nélio Mendonça, in Funchal, reversed the amount to reduce Madeira’s national debt and this Monday, though sparing in words, Albuquerque opined that “this is not bad”, arguing that the regional government “will not have two hospitals”.
Source: DN
