The secretary general of the PS stated this Saturday, November 22, that the Government continues to fail to respond to the socialist proposal for coordinating the hospital emergency, accusing the executive of failing to guarantee “predictability and security” in access to healthcare.
On the sidelines of the Magellan Community Center gala, which brought together more than two thousand people at the new facilities of the Liuna Local 183 union, in Vaughan (north of Toronto), José Luís Carneiro also considered that the recent demonstrations in defense of the National Health Service (SNS) “have foundation and legitimacy”.
“It is only possible to reform the National Health Service if we are able to empower primary care, valuing public health, care at home and in the community, and ensuring that some medical specialties are offered in primary care itself”, José Luís Carneiro told Lusa.
“We must be able to bring responses closer to the populations”, he continued, stressing that strengthening health centers is an essential condition to alleviate hospital pressure.
The socialist leader also defended that it is necessary to “improve the coordination between primary care and hospital care”, stressing that this coordination is essential to avoid the “strangulation of the hospital emergency response”.
“The situation we are experiencing, particularly in the Setúbal Peninsula and Greater Lisbon, is one of authentic chaos,” he stated, specifically pointing out difficulties in obstetrics, gynecology and pediatrics services.
“Pregnant women have the right to predictable, safe and timely responses, and this is not happening”, he stressed.
Carneiro also criticized the lack of clarification from Luís Montenegro’s executive: “I ask the Government again where the proposal we made to it in July for the coordinated management of the hospital emergency is. The Prime Minister has the duty to respond to the PS and explain to the country why the proposal did not deserve any evaluation or decision.”
Regarding the recent demonstrations promoted by user committees and union structures, the general secretary stated that “they are well-founded, have legitimacy and are an expression of a real concern of the populations”.
“They reinforce what we have been saying to the Government: we need to act, and act urgently”, he added.
Asked about the centrality of health in the socialist political project, Carneiro stated that “health is the PS’s first political priority and must be the first priority for any government”.
“Health, housing, improving income and wages, decent work, transport and mobility are essential priorities, but health is among the first priorities of a responsible governance program”, he added.
José Luís Carneiro’s visit to Canada, accompanied by Paulo Pisco, deputy secretary general for Portuguese Communities, lasts until Sunday and includes contacts with association leaders, social institutions, PS activists, consular representatives and members of the Portuguese-Canadian community, passing through Toronto and Montreal.
The PS secretary general argued that the Portuguese diaspora has a “strategic character” for the country’s external presence, highlighting the communities’ contribution to the internationalization of the Portuguese language, economy and institutions.
“The Portuguese Government, on behalf of the State, must create conditions so that these networks for the insertion of Portuguese people in the world have support and support, because it is these networks that affirm Portugal in the global space”, he declared.