The President of the Republic emphasized this Wednesday the need to define the new organic framework of the National Health Service (SNS), warning that “if not, pieces of the puzzle will burst”, but despite everything he spoke hope out.
“Time in politics is fundamental. The best idea in the world that comes a year and a half late becomes a less good idea,” noted Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, speaking to journalists on the sidelines of an initiative at the Faculty of Pharmacy of the University of Lisbon.
Asked whether he fears that Fernando Araújo will resign due to the delay in approving the respective regulations, the head of state said that “he is a very determined person” who “managed to turn the situation around”. Hospital de São João”, in Porto, and that “it is very effective” in the places it goes.
“Therefore, it is about creating the conditions to be effective and to ensure that the effective team, as it is doing now, can start and solve the various problems, some of which are already old, the problem of hours is old , others are more recent,” he appealed.
Shortly afterwards, the President of the Republic attended, together with the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, the presentation of the Maria José Nogueira Pinto Prize, promoted by the pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme (MSD), in Palácio Fronteira in Lisbon.
At the end of that ceremony, neither spoke to reporters.
In the statements he previously made on the SNS, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reiterated that he expects “some dialogue between the Ministry of Health and the trade unions on the one hand, and the Ministry of Health and the Order”. [dos Médicos]of the other”.
“We will see if at the end of this week of meetings, contacts and next week there are more reasons to talk about dialogue,” he said.
However, according to the Head of State, in parallel with this negotiation process, “a fundamental problem” remains, namely the lack of legal definition of the “new SNS management system”.
“We talked about the maternity wards and then about overtime pay. What matters is that the new SNS management system should be implemented as soon as possible,” he argued.
“One year and three or four months for a reform is a long time. It means that the transition from one management model to another is halfway across the bridge,” he said.
According to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, “this must be put into practice” to “get a vision of the whole, the complete puzzle – if not, pieces of the puzzle will begin to crack.”
“And I hope this comes to fruition,” he added.
The President of the Republic argued that it is in everyone’s interest “that the SNS works, remains fundamental, because those who do not have money for an alternative – and unfortunately there are millions of Portuguese – are essentially dependent on the SNS”, and Therefore, “their good management, which was implemented and implemented on time with the announced reform, is fundamental”.
The Maria José Nogueira Pinto Prize for Social Responsibility was also presented by Maria de Belém Roseira, former Minister of Health, who chairs the jury, Graça de Freitas, former Director General of Health, and Maria Cavaco Silva, wife of the previous President of Republic.
Maria José Nogueira Pinto, former deputy elected by the CDS-PP and later as an independent on the PSD lists, died in July 2011 at the age of 59.
This was the 11th edition of the prize that bears his name. The winner was the E-Integrar project of the Associação Pró-partilha e Inserção do Algarve.
The Family Planning Association and the Pista Mágica association received honorable mentions.
Source: DN
