Manuel de Almeida / LUSA
The Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins
Ana Paula Martins says that the management “could have been done better”. Former chief of staff (also) denies former secretary of state.
A minister of health went to Parliament to provide clarifications in the parliamentary commission of inquiry into the National Institute of Medical Emergency (INEM).
He acknowledged this Tuesday that the management of the two strikes that affected INEM in 2024 “could have been done better” and that the institute “will not have realized” the possibility of decreeing minimum services.
“Basically, they were two strikes. An overtime strike, which was, let’s say, initiated by the Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians Union (STEPH), which joined the public service strike then in 30 [de outubro] and on November 4 [de 2024]. Of course, a management could have been done better. Today we know this”, acknowledged Ana Paula Martins.
He recalled that strikes during overtime are legal, “but being strikes in the health sector, which put urgent and urgent care at risk, minimum services must be negotiated”.
When asked if the INEM management failed to contest the absence of minimum services, replied: “I admit, from what I know today, that the INEM did not realize that it had this possibility”.
Cristina Vaz Tomé
A secretary of state at the time of the strikes it was Cristina Vaz Toméwho has since left the Government.
Ana Paula Martins ensures that her exit It was not related to the strikes or INEM: as she is an engineer, “I had other projects” and preferred not to continue in office after the 2025 legislative elections.
Last week, also within the scope of the parliamentary commission of inquiry. Cristina Vaz Tomé said that did not receive any formal communication regarding advance notice of the strike; even with an email about the matter that reached your office. And he was in Brazil at the time.
This Tuesday, the former chief of staff of the former Secretary of State for Health Management said that all strike notices that reached the office were treated “immediately”.
Gustavo Namorado also highlighted that Cristina Vaz Tomé fully trusted the screening carried out by the office, describing a relationship of continuous communication and great operational proximity.
About the former Secretary of State being in Brazil: “I don’t remember that the Secretary of State ever left Portugal when I was chief of staff, but I always knew where she was.”
Last week, Rui Lázaro, president of the Union of Pre-Hospital Emergency Technicians, assured that Cristina Vaz Tomé knew that there was going to be a strike.
The parliamentary commission of inquiry into INEM was created following the strikes by pre-hospital emergency technicians in October 2024, which caused significant constraints in the system’s response, resulting in 12 deaths during the strike.
