PSD leader Luís Montenegro said Friday that the new health minister is doomed to failure because of the prime minister’s ideological choices to maintain the same health policy.
“Unfortunately, the new minister is condemned from the start by the prime minister, who was very clear when the previous minister resigned, when he said he was going to change the portfolio holder, but the policy would remain the same.”emphasized the director, in Arganil, in the Coimbra district, during a visit to the industrial and commercial fair of Beira Serra (Ficabeira) and Feira do Mont’Alto.
Speaking to journalists, in response to the appointment of Manuel Pizarro as Minister of Health to replace the outgoing Marta Temido, the PSD chairman foresaw that the new holder of the portfolio would “many difficulties” and showed “little confidence that you will get good results”.
According to Luís Montenegro, the new Minister of Health has been ordered to follow policies that have led to more Portuguese without a GP, chaos in emergency situations, especially in obstetrics and gynecology, and an inability of the National Health Service (SNS) to respond to many requests for consultations before surgery of treatments”.
“If the Prime Minister said the policy would be the same, [Manuel Pizarro] has been sentenced to worse or equal results to the previous holder of the wallet, which were terrible for the SNS and for the response to the health problems of the Portuguese”he said.
“The choice of a PS leader [para o ministério] also reveals António Costa’s inability to recruit into society those who escape the atmosphere of the most narrow circle of PS leadership”he emphasized.
For the social democratic leader, the choice of the prime minister reveals “that António Costa can only recruit from those who are the staunch leaders of the PS”in a government that “is absolutely taken over by socialist leaders”the core of which is “very closed to society”.
“The prime minister believes that everything is in order, that he should continue with the same policy and the new minister is condemned by his head of government, who defines priorities and political guidelines”repeated.
Luís Montenegro also accused the government of showing “absolutely unable to bear the consequences of the closure of services, namely emergency services, and the consequences this has for many people in need of urgent care”.
The PSD chairman understands that the evil of the health sector is: “in the Prime Minister’s guidelines, in the funnel of the SNS and in an excessive ideological burden, in which the Prime Minister and the PS do not understand that health has users and no ideology and one must count on everyone”.
“The SNS is a cornerstone, which we defend, but we defend that when it is unable to respond, we must rely on the social and private sectors, in a complementary way, so that, with the help of the state, citizens can also gain access to health care with fewer resources, and unfortunately the government is not looking at that”said.
The Prime Minister, António Costa, has proposed to the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, to appoint Socialist deputy Manuel Pizarro as Minister of Health, replacing Marta Temido.
Manuel Pizarro, a specialist in internal medicine, was Secretary of State for Health in the two socialist leaders led by José Sócrates between 2008 and 2011.
After his appointment as the new health minister of the third government led by António Costa was announced this Friday, he will take office on Saturday to succeed Marta Temido, who stepped down on August 30.
Source: DN
