“Seriously negligent behaviour”  – government purges Lisbon’s Santa Casa da Misericórdia

Sacks entire board of directors, including former Red Cross chief only recently appointed

The trials and tribulations of Lisbon’s Santa Casa da Misericórdia (SCML) charitable institution – underpinned by the national lottery – have compounded this week, with the government sacking the woman brought in only a year ago to ‘turn the institution around’.

Former Red Cross chief and one-time Socialist health minister Ana Jorge was sacked yesterday, along with the rest of the board of directors, on the basis that Santa Casa’s financial woes have not been effectively tackled.

Indeed, the new AD government under Luís Montenegro, has accused all involved of ‘seriously negligent behaviour’.

In an order published today in State gazette Diário da República the government explains that the institution crippled by losses (much of them attributed to an effort to ‘internationalise’ the lottery) required a financial restructuring plan “taking into account the imbalance of accounts between the current and capital structure”, but that Ana Jorge failed to present this plan, in spite of having a year in which to do so. 

Ms Jorge took office on May 2, 2023 – chosen by António Costa’s previous Socialist government. There is no denying she inherited an institution in dire financial straits – but concerns centre on the fact that she has taken a year effectively failing to deal with them.

The government’s order refers to the whole board’s failure to provide “information essential to the exercise of guardianship”, namely the report and accounts for 2023, “even in provisional form”, and the budget outturn for the first three months of 2024.

It equally calls Ana Jorge out for “failing to respond (to) all the requests for information that have been made so far”.

Ms Jorge has a long history of public service, and is a paediatrician by profession.

Commentators are seeing today’s ‘news’ as more a case of the government seeking to ‘make a point’ and put Santa Casa in hands that it prefers.

Analyst João Maria Jonet has told SIC Notícias that, in his opinion, this is all a bit too sensationalist.

“‘I think that here we are slowly eroding our institutional respect and respect for appointments made by previous governments, for choices made by previous governments (…) I’m not an expert on Santa Casa, but in principle I think that mandates are to be fulfilled and it’s not because the government changes political colour that mandates should be interrupted. It’s not because the government has changed political colour that the most strategic and fundamental choices the country makes should change abruptly, because that doesn’t create confidence for those who invest in Portugal, for those who work in Portugal.

“The problem we have is that this situation is just one example of the fact that more and more governments want to leave their mark at the first moment, to make the news’, he said.

And make the news this has. It is the ‘hot topic of the day’.

After this text went up online, Ana Jorge herself, responded to the reasons given for her dismissal, interpreting the whole process as “rude, mean-spirited and slanderous.

“I have always thought – and now more than ever – that in politics, as in life, not everything counts. However, in due course and in the appropriate forum, I will tell my truth, which is the truth of someone who has served SCML with the same dedication and spirit of mission with which I have carried out the various public and civic functions throughout my life”, reads a statement to which the nation’s press has had access.

In conclusion, and addressing Santa Casa’s employees directly, Ana Jorge appealed to them “please don’t give up on SCML, which needs each and every one of you to fulfil its mission among the most vulnerable”.

natasha.donn@portugalresident.com

Natasha Donn
Natasha Donn

Journalist for the Portugal Resident.

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