PSD President Luis Montenegro said on Monday that the country had moved from a pandemic to a health pandemonium and called on the ministry to pay back the fire brigade.
“We’ve gone from the pandemic season [Covid-19] during the tumult. Today in Portugal we have complete chaos in the healthcare system, which ranges from the closure of services to a shortage of specialists, as well as an unjustified, unacceptable lack of support for those who on the ground facilitate, for example, the transport of patients, as in the case of firefighters, “said Luis Montenegro.
The SDP leader spoke to reporters in Pedrogan Grande, Leiria district, during his first visit as chairman of an incumbent party.
The Social Democrat, who is accompanied by, among others, deputies, first met with the mayors in the Chamber of Pedrogan Grande and then met with the League of Portuguese Firefighters in the fire department of the municipality.
At the end of this second meeting, Luis Montenegro considered that “the debt of the Ministry of Health to the humanitarian associations of firefighters is unacceptable, it must be paid, because if it is not paid, the consequence will be that the firefighters will not be able to provide the service.”
“And it is not only about the transport service. Due to the provision of this service, a financial deficit is created, which means that firefighters do not have funds for even more urgent rescue work, such as accidents, for example, forest fires,” he warned.
For Luis Montenegro, “the firefighters in Portugal and the Ministry of Health bear the main responsibility” of the financial suffocation.
“Unfortunately, he is not the only one, but he bears the main responsibility,” he said, addressing the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, urging him “this time to fulfill the promise to pay the firefighters what he owes.”
The Chairman of the PSD stated that “the state should be a good person with all its service providers, but with this one in particular, it should pay even more attention.”
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
