Carneiro hopes that the announcement about Combating Fraud in the NHS will not be a "way to distract attention"

The PS secretary-general hopes that the creation of the Fraud Combating Unit in the National Health Service (SNS) announced today by the Ministry of Health "is not a way of distracting attention from the failures in medical emergencies."

"I think it's important to combat inefficiency in the NHS. But the Minister [of Health] will have to answer what the purpose of this team she wants to establish is. I hope it's not a way to distract attention from the serious failures in emergency medical care," said José Luís Carneiro.

The socialist leader, who was speaking to journalists in Baião, in the Porto district, on the sidelines of the presentation of Paulo Pereira, candidate of the Socialist Party ( PS ) for the City Council, recalled the question he asked in Parliament.

"A few days ago, we asked the Prime Minister why he promised a year ago that he had an emergency plan for hospitals. He promised one for September of last year, but a year has passed and there is no emergency coordination plan for Lisbon and the Tagus Valley, nor for the Setúbal Peninsula, home to over 800,000 people," he said.

And regarding Ana Paula Martins' announcement, he insisted: "I hope it's not a way to divert attention from the lack of response that they should have been working on over the past few months to find a solution to."

The government will create an Anti-Fraud Unit in the National Health Service (SNS), which will work in collaboration with the Judicial Police and the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Health confirmed to Lusa today.

"The legislation necessary for the creation of this Unit is being finalized and will go to the Council of Ministers by the end of the month," said the Health Minister's office, in a written note sent to Lusa.

The creation of a Fraud Combat Unit in the NHS, which was reported today by Jornal de Notícias, was already included in the government's Program.

According to the Ministry of Health, in a note sent to Lusa today, "the mission of the new unit is to detect, prevent, and combat fraud, abuse, and irregularities, with the aim of ensuring that public resources invested in the NHS are used to serve citizens."

The unit, which will be nationwide, will operate "in collaboration with the Judicial Police and the Attorney General's Office, among other entities."

Also questioned about the threat by the Portuguese Firefighters League to suspend, for one day, the use of ambulances from the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM) if the government does not pay, by Wednesday, the debts of the pre-hospital emergency service, José Luís Carneiro considered it "obvious" that there is a lack of planning in this area.

"Does it make any sense for pregnant women to go from door to door, from town to town, without knowing where they'll give birth? There's no predictability, no security."

José Luís Carneiro considered that "the government should have focused on coordinating hospital emergencies", regretting that "after these months [the supervision] has no solution".

"What we're asking the government to do is plan, execute, and monitor results. What the government is demonstrating is a major failure in an area that is vital to people's lives (...) The government must respond to these needs. We can't expect that with every difficulty, it will find some kind of illusionary trick to distract people from what's essential," he concluded.