Luís Montenegro, leader of Portugal’s Social Democratic Party has called today for a national pact for health, involving the government, parties and the State, social and private sectors, to end the “hypocrisy” that the SNS health service is apparently firm and strong, when it is actually “fragile and inconsistent”. At the end of an audience with President Marcelo, Mr Montenegro stressed “the health sector needs a strong approach with a strategic and structural dimension. We need a national health pact in Portugal, involving the government, political parties and all sectors of activity, public, private and social,” he said. “We need to speak the truth and not create a lack of expectation and avoid the minister of health appearing to function as executive director and the executive director presenting himself as minister of health,” he said, finding it strange that Fernando Araújo (CEO of the executive directorate) and Manuel Pizarro (minister for health) had two consecutive interviews in which, he believes, “they interfered in each other’s responsibilities” (This being a situation many predicted when the new level of management within the health service was created…)
