PSD takes the state of the SNS to debate today so that there are “no doubts” about the starting point

Speaking to Lusa, the first vice-president of the PSD bench and former president of the Order of Doctors, Miguel Guimarães, considered it important, at a time of change of Government, to make “an overview of the state of health in Portugal”.

“Namely from the National Health Service (SNS), so that there are no doubts about what we have and what we will have at the end of 2025”, he explained, saying that in this debate “it still matters what the PS did”.

Miguel Guimarães considered it essential to debate how “the PS left the SNS, whether in access to a family doctor, in access to hospital care, or in financing”.

“In 2023, citizens were already financing their own health at 35% of the global volume, much more than double the European Union average”, he highlighted.

The deputy said that, at this moment, “the largest health care provider in Portugal is no longer the SNS”, counting on the amount of 8 billion euros transferred from the State Budget to pay for services to the social and private sector.

“What has happened in recent years in practice? We have never spent so much on health, whether from people’s direct money or from the State Budget. Now, the PS was not competent to manage this money, the PS did not improve the SNS’s ability to respond”, he criticized.

Even without the presence of the Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins, the PSD deputy hopes that the debate can provide contributions – from the various benches – to the emergency plan that the Government has committed to presenting to the SNS by the 2nd of June and for longer-term health sector reform.

“We want an SNS as the centerpiece of health in Portugal, we need to have a truly more modern health service with a new management model”, he said, considering that the current model “prevents the evolution and efficiency of the SNS itself”.

An SNS with “closer and more extended cooperation with the social and private sector”, a more flexible Basic Health Law, a large investment in equipment and innovation and a true evaluation of the models of Local Health Units (ULS) are some of the suggestions left by the vice-president of the PSD parliamentary group, which leaves space for the remaining benches to also present ideas.

“It is an important debate and one that can be useful to the Minister of Health herself to see what suggestions the various parties are making to adjust the emergency plan that has been planned”, he said, adding that even “the PS may have a different vision than it had”, saying that this happened in areas such as tolls or taxes.