PS wants urgent hearing of Ana Jorge and minister on dismissals at Santa Casa

The PS will request an urgent parliamentary hearing from Ana Jorge and the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security to explain the Government’s decision, announced this Monday, to dismiss the administration of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa.

According to an official socialist source, these hearing requests will be made urgently, with the PS’s objective being to provide all clarifications in parliament regarding this decision to dismiss the institution’s administration with immediate effect.

The administration of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa was dismissed “with immediate effect”, the Government announced this Monday, justifying the decision because the team “revealed itself incapable of facing the institution’s serious financial and operational problems”.

In the PS request to which the Lusa agency had access, the parliamentary group states that the situation of the SCML “has been subject to scrutiny by the Assembly of the Republic”, giving as examples the hearings in a parliamentary committee at “different moments, whether from responsible for managing the institution and its political supervision”.

“In the same sense, the institution has been the subject of recurring news at different times, including, for example, the request for a forensic audit ordered by the previous Executive or, more recently, the dismissal of the institution’s deputy ombudsman”, he adds.

The news of the dismissal, points out the PS, “appears on the same day that the Público newspaper reports that revenues below budget in the first quarter of the year lead to the Ministry of Labor, Solidarity and Social Security, now led by Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho , demanding an urgent restructuring plan, which is why this decision needs to be explained, given that there is a risk of creating instability in the institution, with potentially serious consequences, at an important moment for the future of SCML”.

“Thus, in view of the news broadcast today, taking into account the complexity of the situation, the radical and unusual decision taken by the current Government, and the fact that those responsible for managing political supervision were heard, at different times, the Group Parliamentarian from the Socialist Party to request, under the regulatory and constitutional provisions, the hearing, as a matter of urgency, of the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security, Maria do Rosário Palma Ramalho, and the until now Ombudsman of Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa , Ana Jorge”, he adds.

The SCML was currently headed by the former socialist Minister of Health Ana Jorge, who served as ombudsman for around a year, with the remaining SCML Board made up of a deputy ombudsman and four members.

“Unfortunately, this decision became inevitable because the Board, now outgoing, proved to be incapable of facing the institution’s serious financial and operational problems, which could in the short term compromise the fundamental task of social action that it is responsible for”, he explained. the executive in a statement.