The coordinator of the BE, Mariana Mortágua, today called for sanctions in the case of the twins treated at Santa Maria Hospital, considering that the credibility of the SNS is at stake, and maintained that Chega “wants a show” with the parliamentary inquiry.
On the sidelines of the “Defending the SNS, fulfilling April” action, which took place next to the Ministry of Health in Lisbon, Mariana Mortágua was asked by journalists about the report by the General Inspection of Health Activities (IGAS), which concluded that access to the neuropediatric consultation of the Portuguese-Brazilian twins treated at Santa Maria Hospital with a drug worth millions of euros was illegal.
“The Santa Maria case is a serious one, access to the NHS must be done according to rules and not according to wedges. It shouldn’t be personal contacts, someone’s power, the fact that they have access to a member of a public body that determines access to the NHS,” he said.
According to the BE leader, once the investigation has reached its conclusions, it is now necessary for parliament to have access to them – the party has already filed a request to this end – but it is essential that “these conclusions also have consequences”.
“First of all, there are disciplinary consequences, which could happen right away given the conclusions of the report, and then criminal consequences, which is what will result from the assessment of the Public Prosecutor’s Office, which already has the document,” he emphasized.
For Mariana Mortágua, “this is not just a case of influence involving the Presidency of the Republic and the Government”, but a case “of defending the NHS and its credibility”.
“The credibility of public services is guaranteed by the quality of the service they provide, that’s not in question, but it’s also guaranteed because citizens know that their access is equal and fair. It can’t be knowledge, the phone book, power or money that condition access to the SNS,” he said.
Asked about the commission of inquiry announced the day before by Chega into this controversial case, the BE leader replied that “what’s important now is that the Assembly of the Republic knows about this report” and that there are “disciplinary sanctions and criminal sanctions if the Public Prosecutor’s Office thinks it should bring charges”.
“A commission of inquiry in this scenario would only drag out the consequences, the disciplinary sanctions and the criminal proceedings themselves. With this proposal, Chega doesn’t want justice, he wants spectacle, and spectacle doesn’t make justice,” he criticized.
In the conclusions of the inspection report, released on Thursday, the IGAS states that “the legal requirements for the two children’s access to the neuropediatric consultation were not met”, since the appointment did not comply with the ordinance that regulates users’ access to the National Health Service.
The IGAS also concluded that the health care provided to the children took place “without there having been any facts worthy of any kind of censure”.
According to the report’s contradictory statement, former Secretary of State António Lacerda Sales criticized the IGAS for giving less weight to his word than to that of his personal secretary, who contacted Santa Maria Hospital to schedule the twins’ appointment.
The case of the two twins living in Brazil who acquired Portuguese nationality and received the drug Zolgensma in Portugal in 2020, at a total cost of four million euros, was reported by TVI in November and is still being investigated by the Attorney General’s Office (PGR).
Chega files request for parliamentary inquiry into twins’ case
General Inspection concludes that access to the Luso-Brazilian twins’ consultation was illegal
