The PCP accused the government on Tuesday of fueling a “destructive inertia” in the National Health Service (SNS) that seeks to weaken it, arguing that the statute “could be a setback” in relation to the basic law.
In a statement, the party considered that the The SNS is “the essential instrument for the realization of the right to health protection”but “the growing difficulties of public health services” to respond in time and with quality to the needs of the populations are evident.
The closure of emergency obstetrics and gynecology services in several cities since the beginning of the summer “are only the most visible face of these difficulties”, the communists maintained, attributing the blame to the “successive governments” PS, PSD and CDS-PP. .
Given the difficulties, the Government continues to refuse to adopt the necessary and urgent measures for the recovery of the SNS. It is not about distraction or incapacity, but about a destructive inertia that objectively aims to weaken the National Health Service and prepare the ground for greater dependency and transfer of resources to private groups”, the PCP concluded.
Three years after the publication of the Basic Health Law, the Government approved the SNS Statute —“which has not yet been published”— and that “according to the foundations of what is stated in the document put up for public discussion, the new statute could be a step backwards in relation to the basic law, consolidating the opening to a greater delivery of resources” to private economic groups.
Insurgent against an “even greater commodification of health”, the PCP told the Government what it believes is the course to “reverse the path of weakening” of the SNSnamely, the presentation to the unions of a proposal for a substantial increase in the salaries of professionals and attraction factors.
The communists want the Government to include in this “path” the “immediate reinforcement” of the funds from the General State Budget for health, in order to allow the “proper management of the units”, and the withdrawal of the “regulation brake” contained in the diploma for the assessment of overtime in hospital emergencies.
The President of the Republic promulgated the SNS Statute on Monday, considering that “it would be incomprehensible” to delay it, and urged the Government to streamline its regulation and clarify ambiguous points, under penalty of losing “a unique opportunity.”
48 hours after receiving his diploma in Belém, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa gave him the “green light” to start a “serious, effective and global health reform in Portugal”.
The decree-law was approved by the Government at the beginning of July and was in public consultation between October and November 2021, according to a statement from the Council of Ministers on the 7th.
The new statute updates the definition of the SNS, its composition —the establishments that comprise it and the services it provides—, the “rights and duties” of the beneficiaries, as well as the organization and operation and other adaptation of human and economic resources.
Source: Observadora
