In anticipation of an attack by the Left Bloc on the government – ​​for using the private and social sectors to respond to SNS users – the Minister of Health appeared this Friday in the plenary session of the Assembly of the Republic for a debate on the Health Emergency Plan, presented at the end of May.

And it was the coordinator of the Block, Mariana Mortágua, who set the tone. “The objective [do governo] is taking money from the NHS and channeling it into the private sectorto let the SNS degrade progressively,” criticized Mariana Mortágua, adding that the plan (presented approximately a month ago by the Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins) “is a mix of a business plan for the private sector and a retread “The PS has already tried.”

The Emergency Plan is “bad”, accuses the Left Bloc

For the Left Bloc, the plan is “bad” and “does not solve any problem.” “It does not say anything about what it says: lack of professionals, lack of careers,” the deputy criticized.

Mariana Mortágua accused the government of handing over births, primary health care and hospital emergencies to the private sector.Instead of opening basic emergency services, which are closed, the government will transfer the money needed to open a new private sector business area”, he stressed.

In the first intervention, already written in advance, Ana Paula Martins responded to the predictable rhetoric of the blockers, rejecting the idea that the government is handing over Health to the private sector. “It is not worth insisting that the government wants to hand over the health of the Portuguese to private groups. We believe in the SNS, we want to enhance it, make it more accessible, efficient and attractive. We promised it and we will keep it,” said the Minister of Health, admitting, however, that there are “limitations” in emergency services and hospital admissions.

More than 90,000 patients operated on in two months, almost all in the NHS

The Minister of Health had two assets: the growing number of pregnant women examined by the SNS Grávida, a service aimed at this population launched by the current government, and the number of surgeries (oncological and non-oncological) carried out since the presidency of Luís Montenegro. The executive took office.

Ana Paula Martins revealed that 30% of the 271,000 patients waiting for an operation on the NHS on 30 April have already had the procedure. “In recent weeks, thanks to the commitment of professionals, we have managed to reduce the number of patients waiting for surgery by more than 30%. The SNS is demonstrating its capacity to respond in a coherent and sustainable way,” stressed the Minister of Health. This is the same as saying that, in less than two months, more than 90 thousand people were operated on.

Specifically with regard to oncology patients (which Ana Paula Martins recalled are “priority”), the majority of the more than nine thousand patients waiting for surgery have already been operated on. “In just over a month, between May 18 and June 21, 7,465 oncology patients were operated on, 98% in the SNS, of the more than nine thousand identified in the emergency plan,” highlighted the head of the Health portfolio.

The Grávida Line of the SNS examined more than 6,500 women

Until June 23, the SNS Grávida line served 6,542 pregnant women. The vast majority of situations (about 4,700 situations) were referred to hospital emergencies. “They had an immediate response by being admitted to maternity wards.even next to services that appear to be closed to the public but that received many of these cases, through SNS 24 and INEM,” assured Ana Paula Martins. Even so, a quarter did not go to hospitals. 690 users were referred for self-care and around a thousand pregnant women to health centers.

Another issue that marked the debate with Ana Paula Martins was the removal of emigrants from the waiting lists of the National Registry of Users. In response to the Left Bloc deputy, Marisa Matias, the Minister of Health denied the idea and guaranteed that Portuguese people living outside the country will continue to have access to their family doctors.

“There is no intention or indication to remove any user from the user list. Even if they are immigrants, they will continue to have access to their health center”, said Ana Paula Martins, who added that these citizens will be included in a reserve list that the government is preparing.

The minister recalled the chronic shortage of family doctors that Portugal faces and maintained that it is also necessary to guarantee a response to “more than a million people, who came to our country to continue their life project”, that is, immigrants. “We must also give these citizens the possibility of having access to family doctors,” she stressed.

Ministry of Health evaluates proposals to present to unions with the Treasury

Questioned by the PCP deputy Paula Santos about the assessment of the career of SNS professionals, Ana Paula Martins revealed that the ministry she heads is evaluating, together with the Ministry of Finance, how far the government can go in the proposals that it will present next week to doctors’ and nurses’ unions.

“We really want to negotiate special races.”, assured the Minister of Health, justifying that “the postponement [das reuniões com os sindicatos, inicialmente agendadas para esta semana] was linked to agenda items” but also to the fact that “the government is carrying out evaluation work with the Ministry of Finance so that we can put on the table, next week, the best we have in valorization and dignity of careers ”.