The Bloco de Esquerda held the government responsible this Thursday for the “deterioration of the national health service” and accused it of taking advantage of the situation “to deepen its health care liberalization plan in Portugal”.
“What was even predictable with this strategy is what happens. An SNS in decline and the PS government taking the opportunity to deepen its health liberalization plan in Portugal. There is nothing more predictable than this,” he criticized the blockade- deputy Joana Mortágua, in parliament.
In the period of political statements, the blockista accused the PS of abandoning the idea of a “universal, general and free SNS”, replacing it “with a new proposition, that of the predictable SNS” and that “when they repeat it , it is to announce a new closure of those they call rotary that eventually become permanent”.
“Emergencies closed, non-stop services, ambulances out of service, for the minister there is no problem with that as long as it is predictable,” he emphasized.
Joana Mortágua also stated that “instead of announcing a strengthening of the SNS, the hiring of professionals, the restoration of services in crisis” the government chooses “to announce that in the next three months, for example, maternity and obstetrics “.
“After the downgrading of the SNS, after the closure of successive services, women will give birth in the private sector, Portugal no longer has the capacity for maternity hospitals so that all women can give birth in public hospitals,” the deputy criticized.
PS deputy Luís Soares stated that Joana Mortágua’s accusations about the SNS are “full proof that the Bloco de Esquerda succumbed to right-wing populism” and defended that since 2015 the government has been “restoring what was missing in the darkest period of the history of the SNS in Portugal”.
Responding to the blockers’ criticism of the situation of obstetrics and maternity care, the socialist acknowledged that “there are difficulties” but stated that the government is “working to mitigate them”.
PSD deputy Guilherme Almeida accused the Bloco de Esquerda of “arriving too late to the debate” and of supporting the “lack of investment that contributed to the downgrading of the SNS”.
“It is indeed good to bear in mind that from 2016 to 2018, SNS investment expenditure was always lower than that carried out in 2015. It is true that the 163 million euros exported in 2015 compares to 117 million in 2016, and the 111 million in 2017 or the 140 million of 2018. The complicity of the Left Bloc is clearly visible in the divestment of state budgets.” , he criticized.
At the end of the intervention, Guilherme Almeida questioned the blockers about whether they believe “that the PS government will now invest in the SNS what it has not invested in the past seven years” and whether it is clear “that the left-wing model of government always ends in more misery” for the Portuguese.
For Chega’s side, Deputy Pedro Frazão stated that “today was a very sad day for Portugal” because the law on medically assisted death was published in Diário da República, criticized BE for its position on this law and referred that “70% of the people do not have access to palliative care”.
Chega’s deputy also asked Joana Mortágua if she “regretted supporting the government that sank for so long and passed a death certificate” to the SNS.
In the Liberal Initiative, MP Joana Cordeiro also criticized the blockades for supporting a government that was making decisions that were “completely disastrous for the quality of health care.”
“It is clear that the Bloco de Esquerda and the Liberal Initiative have very different views, but the Liberal Initiative is at least trying to find different solutions to problems that have been dragging on for too long,” he defended.
PCP deputy João Dias, on the other hand, saluted the blockade deputy “expressing her concern” about the closure of emergency and other services and questioned whether the Bloco de Esquerda “agrees with the assessment that what is now being announced as provisional” will be final become. .
Responding to interventions by deputies from other parties, Joana Mortágua acknowledged the “advances made in the SNS since 2015”, but that by acknowledging these advances, the BE was “able to recognize when the PS decided that the future of the SNS transferred money to the private sector and therefore it failed the budget”.
When asked if she trusts the SNS, Joana Mortágua said she “trusts a lot”, especially “in the supernatural ability of its professionals to be able to get anywhere, with few resources and with little investment”, but that she has no faith ” the government of the Socialist Party to take care of the SNS”.
Source: DN
