The left Bloc’s leader, Catarina Martins, has accused the government of freezing spending in the health service in an attempt to make the national year-end figures look better.
"The Government has made an order which effectively freezes spending in the National Health Service," said Martins, adding that this simply is massaging the figures.
Catarina Martins was speaking to journalists on a visit to the Açores at the start of her campaign for regional elections taking place on October 16th.
The Left Bloc disagrees with the order issued and signed by the Secretary of State for Health, Manuel Delgado, which requires hospitals to control spending, forcing them to ask permission for any investment.
Martins considers that this decision "may lead to additional and excessive delay in the acquisition of products, material and equipment and cripples health units which can not respond quickly and effectively to exceptional situations," reads a document sent to the Ministry of Health.
On Saturday, the Ministry of Health explained that the executive order is intended only to prevent budget overruns at the year end.
Admitting that the need for hospital administrators to ask permission involves an added layer of bureaucracy which could delay operations, the Ministry of Health assured the public that everything will be done to ensure patients are not harmed.
The Left Bloc solution is for more spending to be allocated to the heath service and to stop the public shifting over to the private sector as the national service is underfunded and lacking in resources.
The order signed by the Secretary of State for Health, Manuel Delgado, dated September 28th, states that, before making any commitment, hospitals must ask permission even if this means a delay in repairing essential medical equipment.
Delgado wants the Ministry to know of such expenditure in advance to asses whether the investments are justified, if they are likely to lead to a budget overrun as has happened in previous years.
Payment delays for National Health Service drugs are increasing at an alarming rate, another way in which the government can control year end outcomes.
The previous government managed to pay off the billions owed to drug suppliers but it has been all too tempting for the António Costa administration to let this discipline slip.
