Communist Party MP, Paulo Sá, continues his one man campaign to stand up for the Algarve region and currently is criticising the government for its lack of promised investment in the region’s hospitals
The pledge of €19 million in the 2017-2019 spending period appears to have become a casualty of the government’s single-minded dedication to please Brussels by cutting investment.
"The Portuguese Comuunist Party has rejected the government's option of cutting public investment, especially National Health Service hospitals, in order to achieve the goal of accelerated reduction of the budget deficit, and the government must act on the investment promised to hospitals in Faro, Portimão and Lagos in the triennium 2017-2019,” states the MP.
Paulo Sá recalled that the former Health Minister, way back in 2016, promised an investment of €19,188,343 over the 2017/2019 period. This was to be made up of €11,293,197 in 2017; €6,441,313 in 2018; and €1,453,833 in 2019.
In March 2018, after being questioned by the PCP's parliamentary group, the government admitted that as at the end of 2017, it had spent less than half of the amount announced for that year.
Confronted by the PCP in a Parliamentary Health Commission meeting, the Health Minister, "admitted a breach of the pledge, apologised about the figures and reiterated the government's commitment to carry out the investment, fully."
The MP says the government still has failed to act, as proven in a recent hearing of Marta Temido, a new Minister of Health, who managed to evade answering a direct question over spending levels.
At that hearing, Paulo Sá asked for an update on the 2018 investment made, or not made, and weanted to know what has been spent in 2019 to date.
