It was a strong hypothesis President (minister), but will be the first director general of the National Health Service (SNS): Fernando Araujo, a doctor who was also once a ruler. He was Undersecretary of State and Health for Adalberto Campos Fernandes between 2015 and 2018 and, since 2019, President of the Board of Directors of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário São João, at the invitation of Marta Temido. His results as a director launched him into the socialist spotlight as a minister. This Friday the election of him as the future director general of the SNS was formalized, days after António Costa said in an interview with TVI / CNN that “Lisbon has much to learn from Portothat is, with respect to the organization of health services”.

In the last electoral campaign, in a forum for preparing the electoral program where Fernando Araújo appeared to complain about “different policies”, Fernando Araújo took advantage of the stage to ask more autonomy for hospitals and above all to make a call not to waste the “unique opportunity to redesign the SNS”. Marta Temido remained in command, after the elections and winning the majority, the fragile situation of the sector collapsed at the beginning of summer, revealing the serious problems of lack of doctors to complete the emergency scales and the rest of the story known.

In these months, Araújo has also been writing (in the Jornal de Notícias) what he thought at all times —almost always very critical— about the short and medium-term measures approved by the Government and that he must now implement as manager of the SNS . The Observer has read and listened to it for the last eight months. here it is What does the new CEO think? about some of the main health problems.

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