“Conflict of interest”. Minister of Health takes charge of investigation into chaos at INEM

Ana Paula Martins says that her continuity in the Government “depends on the results of the investigation” — but she has just taken over IGAS, which coordinates the investigation, removing supervision from the State secretariat inspection.

The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martinsnot only from the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM), but also under the supervision of the General Inspection of Health Activities (EVERY), the entity responsible for investigating alleged failures at INEM that would have led to the deaths of more than a dozen people.

The decision was formalized in an order published in the Official Gazette, revoking a previous determination that attributed this responsibility to the Secretary of State, it advances this Wednesday, at a time when potentially caused by failures in the response to the medical emergency, by and through Samu technicians, which coincided with the public service shutdown at the beginning of November.

The Public Prosecutor’s Office is conducting investigations related to the suspicious deaths, while IGAS — now in the hands of the minister that Prime Minister Luís Montenegro refuses to fire — investigates delays in emergency services.

“Conflict of interest”

It’s “bizarre” that Paula Martins decides to take over IGAS, “at the same time that she says that her continuity in the position depends on the results of the investigation”, confesses to Renascença João Paulo Batalha, vice-president of Frente Cívica, who considers the measure a potential “conflict of interests.”

Upon taking over IGAS, the minister “conditions the investigation”: “we have a very serious problem here in which the minister is creating a direct conflict of interests in relation to who is investigating this situation”, he emphasizes.

On the other hand, Rui Lázaro, president of the Union of Workers in Pre-Hospital Emergency, defended the decision: “we trust the minister much more than the Secretary of State for Health”, he confesses, since IGAS is always subordinate to the Ministry of Health.