Literally interpreting the words, this Friday, from the Minister of Health, the doctor Fernando Araújo, president of the board of directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário de São João (CHUSP), in Porto, has not yet been invited to the new position of director of the SNS. The news that the invitation had already been made was put forward four days ago (September 13), but at the same time it was noted that Fernando Araújo had not yet accepted it. On Thursday, Porto Canal said that one of the CHUSP president’s doctor’s requirements would be to install the new service in Porto.
Pizarro said the invitation to the person he chose (who did not reveal who he was) will be made in the “following days” to take up employment on Oct. 1, when the new law recognizing this new leadership position at the top of the structure comes into effect. And according to him, the executive director will not enter “fullness of functions” until January 1, 2023, when the new state budget comes into effect.
President leave message
The health minister spoke late in the afternoon at the Palácio de Belém after attending the inauguration of his two secretaries of state, Doctor Margarida Tavares (Secretary of State for Health Promotion) and hospital administrator Ricardo Mestre (Secretary of State for Health). The new State Secretary to Prime Minister Miguel Alves, until now mayor of the city council of Caminha, also took office.
This Friday, the president of the republic announced the promulgation of the government diploma that creates the position of executive director of the SNS. Marcelo said the government has cleared all his doubts “except for one”. This will have to do with the powers on the health center groupings, currently of the ARS but that will pass, at least in part, to the CCDR).
For the president, this could create “overlapping” zones. In the note he issued, Marcelo opined that the diploma issued “goes a lot in the direction of the concerns expressed” at the time of the promulgation of the SNS statute. He added that he hoped “that this opportunity for change will not be wasted”.
separate functions
Manuel Pizarro later explained that since the diploma had now been proclaimed by the president, he could now invite him to become executive director of the SNS.
According to him, the new service will make it possible to “separate” the “technical and operational” direction of the SNS from the “political leadership” of the Ministry of Health. Recalling that during the pandemic “the SNS has given a lot of evidence and guarantees for the protection of the health of the Portuguese” (more so “than some countries often considered more developed”), the minister said that in creating the executive director of the SNS, “It is expected that people’s satisfaction with health services will improve”.
“Listening to society”
However, he added that the creation of this structure “does not relieve the government of any responsibility”. With regard to the new secretaries of state, the minister emphasized that “it is the first time that a government has a state secretary with the health promotion portfolio”. “The goal is to listen to society and what people have to tell us.”
Source: DN
