Ventura challenges Montenegro to present a health plan

The president of Chega challenged the prime minister this Tuesday to bring a plan to the state of the nation debate to resolve health constraints over the next six months, considering that this area "is not doing well."

"I challenged the Prime Minister to focus on the state of health and present a plan to Parliament to tell us how health care will function in the next six months. Six months, not a year from now, two years from now, three years from now, or four years from now, is in six months, so covering the summer and the end of this year , what will improve health care , how will issues like the closure of emergency rooms be resolved," he stated.

André Ventura was speaking to journalists before a meeting with the management of the Amadora-Sintra Hospital, accompanied by the party's candidates for the Amadora council, deputy Rui Paulo Sousa, and for Sintra, deputy Rita Matias.

The Chega leader considered that "health is not going well" and questioned "what the Government wants to do to prevent health from getting worse."

"Only the Prime Minister, with rose-colored glasses, or in this case orange, can see the country's health situation improving. Anyone can see that health is not improving , any health professional can see that health is not improving," he criticized, considering that "it is already difficult to believe anything the Government says in the area of health. Honestly, it is very difficult, because nothing changes, no emergency plans, no extraordinary plans, nothing."

"If it doesn't work, then we'll leave it to us to decide and we'll take the plan to parliament for approval, probably with the votes of parties other than the government, but I don't think that's desirable when the government is in charge," he said.

Ventura also considered that there has been "a series of many" layoffs in several hospitals and advocated the appointment of "independent people" to these positions, in addition to "a national survey of health needs," also insisting on the need for an audit of health services.

He also asked the Prime Minister not to go to the State of the Nation debate on Thursday to "make propaganda" or postpone the resolution of the problems for "two, three, or four years from now," considering that Portugal has "serious structural problems this year in emergency services and access to consultations."

Regarding the meeting with the Amadora-Sintra Hospital, the Chega leader said that the objective was to understand "what conditions have been provided by the Government" for a unit that serves several hundred thousand people "to function, at a time when the country is entering a difficult period and hospitals remain in complete disaster."

When asked about the new Sintra Hospital, which opened on Monday, the president of Chega said that "it is actually a kind of expanded health center, a kind of patchwork" and argued that "structural solutions" are necessary.

In addition to "health reform," André Ventura would like the Government to also address the reform of the Justice system, immigration and nationality in the State of the Nation debate on Thursday, or explain "how it will implement" the IRS reduction agreed with Chega for next year's State Budget.