According to the Constitution of the Republic, “everyone has the right to health protection.” In practice, this basic right of any citizen essentially translates into the existence of “a universal and public national health service, taking into account the economic and social conditions of citizens, tends to be free.”
In other words, our right to health protection is guaranteed (or ought) primarily by the public health services (national or regional), whose work (good or bad) is the responsibility of the state and the Autonomous Community of Madeira.
However, without prejudice to the main/central role of public services, from the outset, nothing prevents (or should prevent) private parties from actively cooperating in the realization of the right to health protection.
In particular, nothing prevents public health services from assuming that not being able to “go to everything”, or to do everything “quickly and well”, making use of all available resources is the best way to defend the interests and needs of citizens. The simple fact that there are “waiting lists” – long – either for surgeries or for (naked) consultations, makes this conclusion obvious, as well as the need to find solutions / alternatives quite urgent.
In fact, because they are tired of waiting (and/or don’t believe in public services), more than 3 million Portuguese people already have health insurance. In other words, 34.3% of Portugal residents aged 15 and over realized that the state does not fully guarantee their right to health protection, and they were obliged/convinced to resort to special services.
Just as the state can/should do as long as it is completely transparent and rational.
And it so happens that the state has chosen, for purely ideological reasons (or sheer prejudice) to increasingly exclude individuals from the provision of public health services.
Indeed, in the process of revising the Basic Law on Health – which would put the Holy Inquisition to shame – the left/extremist wing of the Socialist Party, allied with left-wing anti-democratic parties, was able to ensure that agreements with private entities and the social sector become “complementary and temporary” and adopt On “Need Installed”.
In this sense, it is easier/more likely to see Jose Socrates again prime minister, or hero of Boavista, than a public hospital run by (or cooperating with) individuals.
Indeed, in this investigative trajectory, PS has scrambled to terminate public-private partnerships in health – which it (well) established itself – ignoring the – unquestioned – Board of Auditors audits, which concluded that this model was able to generate savings exceeding for 200 million euros, as well as the “creation” of the 3 best hospitals in the country (Braga, Villa Franca de Xira and Lloris).
In other words, despite having a proven model at hand, which not only brought us closer to the most modern and developed country, but was better served to citizens and taxpayers, the state has chosen a model that takes us in the direction of the “Venezuela” of our health system, the success of which depends entirely on Promises of investment and efficiency being fulfilled, late or at all.
Our health system is not gratified and getting sick, and the news – which deserves to be a “third world” country – recently announced is clear evidence of this.
