During the morning session at ALRAM, before the Order of the Day, Paulo Cafôfo, from the Socialist Party, took to the podium to focus his speech on the state of healthcare in the Region.
The MP, in his weekly political intervention, stated that “behind every postponed appointment, every unscheduled exam, and every unresolved surgery, there are people suffering. Faced with this reality, the least that could be demanded was transparency,” the socialist argued.
“It was through the questions and requests made by the Socialist Party that a serious situation was discovered: in fact, the Monitoring Committee for Waiting Lists, which was advertised on the official SESARAM website, with names and associated responsibilities, was never appointed. And even more serious: when the Socialist Party requested a parliamentary hearing with the members of this Committee, it was never stated that the Committee did not formally exist, and it was never clarified that it had not been appointed,” elaborated Paulo Cafôfo.
The parliamentarian recalled that the PSD and the Regional Government told the people of Madeira that the Region had 100% coverage with a family doctor.
However, “there are around 25,000 people in Madeira without a family doctor. Twenty-five thousand. Children. Elderly people. People with chronic illnesses. People who don’t need propaganda. They need a doctor,” he argued in his warning speech.
The criticism didn’t stop there. “The data now available is a warning sign: Madeira has the worst cancer survival rate in the country, around 59.5%, below the national average of 66.4%, while at the same time presenting a worrying burden of chronic and oncological disease.”
Regarding the implementation of the PRR (Recovery and Resilience Plan), he stressed that “the promised beds for continuing care and nursing homes have not materialized, and this lack of response is hindering the hospital.”
“The Government says that the PRR [Recovery and Resilience Plan] will reach 100% implementation when, in practice, initially planned projects have fallen by the wayside and essential services are not reaching the people. Let’s look at the numbers: 400 beds for nursing homes and 140 beds for continuing care have been lost.”
“Don’t fool us. It’s one thing to follow the plan. It’s quite another to change the plan and then say it was followed,” he argued.