Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reaffirmed on Thursday evening, through a statement published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic, “that he was not aware of any steps taken together with the Ministry of Health in the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins, after he had sent him the file to the Prime Minister’s Office on October 31, 2019.”
The President of the Republic said that he had made this clarification “following the news that emerged today”, stating that the former Secretary of State for Health, António Lacerda Sales, had met at the Ministry of Health with Nuno Rebelo de Sousa, son of the head of state, while the case of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins who came to Portugal that year to receive the drug Zolgensma, a treatment that cost four million euros, took place. According to TVI, there were suspicions that this happened under the influence of the President of the Republic, who has already denied any interference in the case.
TVI now questioned Deputy Lacerda Sales about the veracity of this news. But the former Secretary of State for Health neither confirmed nor denied, noting that an investigation is underway: “I will only respond to my own headquarters, that is, to IGAS and DIAP, with respect to the powers and times of justice. I’m going to anticipate everything. “I don’t confirm or deny, just personally,” he said.
This afternoon, Sales had said in statements to journalists that he was waiting for documentation so he could “try to remember” the twins’ case, reiterating that he would only respond “in his own place”, before the courts and health authorities. Inspection.
On Monday, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa confirmed in a statement to journalists at the Palácio de Belém that his son Nuno Rebelo de Sousa contacted him in 2019 about this case. The head of state defended that the handling of the twins’ case was neutral. and like so many others, and informed that correspondence from the Presidency of the Republic in this regard had been sent to the Office of the Attorney General (PGR).
In addition to the PGR and IGAS, the case is also subject to an internal audit at the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de Lisboa Norte, of which Santa Maria Hospital is part.
Source: DN
