The government seems to have given in to criticisms it has leveled at the management and lack of resources of the National Health Service and has even elected Fernando Araújo, former chairman of the board of directors of Centro Hospitalar de São João in Porto, as executive director of the SNS. And even though António Costa has guaranteed a line of continuity in Marta Temido’s policy.
Recognized as a critic of the former minister’s line – several opinion articles in the JN testify to this – the doctor and manager, in an interview with DN, criticized the “excessive politicization of public offices” and its impact on the sector and defended that the fact that Finance has more power than Health “limits the autonomy of decisions and does not make managers accountable in a process”.
These words were said last year when he had just received the Kaizen Award for his unit’s response to covid-19 and the medal for distinctive services of the Ordem dos Médicos.
This Monday, António Costa hinted who could be chosen, praising the operation of emergency services in the north of the country. “There is no doubt that Lisbon has a lot to learn from Porto, namely regarding the operation of emergency services, it has a lot to learn from Porto,” the prime minister said in an interview with TVI 24.
According to the station, the official has not yet officially responded to the invitation because he is awaiting the promulgation of the new SNS statute, something that will only happen after Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa returns from Angola, having attended the inauguration. by João Lourenco.
Fernando Araújo was director of the Immunohaemotherapy Service and of the Center for Laboratory Medicine of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João. He held management positions at the Ordem dos Médicos and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and Health between 2015 and 2018, when Adalberto Campos Fernandes was Minister.
At 56, this Porto native is a doctor who assumed he had a penchant for management, so much so that he did a postgraduate degree in the area from the Catholic University of Porto.
In his opinion articles, which he now no longer writes in the JN, as well as in an interview with the DN, he claimed that Health was under-budgeted and that there was a fight for more staff in the health units, despite acknowledging that there was a reinforcement in this area on the part of the Ministry of Health, which passed from the hands of Marta Temido to those of Manuel Pizarro.
According to health sources, as Secretary of State, he played an important role in the fight against obesity, with measures to reduce sugar and salt in food.
Writing in the JN in July about valuing physician overtime, he said: “The problem with policymakers is that they are sometimes careless in opting for populist solutions in complex systems. Spending more money without a clear strategy and adequate planning will not solve the constraints.” on , because it can still cause new problems.”
Source: DN
