PSD and CDS aim to amend basic law on health to curb “abusive use” of SNS
Portuguese Social Democrat Member of European Parliament (MEP), Sebastião Bugalho, said on Wednesday that “it is neither inhumane nor unreasonable” to demand extra documentation from migrants to access the country’s national health service (SNS).
The idea has been proposed by the PSD and CDS-PP governing coalition but criticised by the opposition Socialist Party.
“It is neither inhumane nor unreasonable to demand documentation from migrants who are not even immigrants, they are not residents, so they are not immigrating to Portugal. They pass through Portugal,” the PSD MEP, who was the head of the PSD list in the last European elections, told reporters today.
At issue is the PSD and CDS initiative to amend the basic law on health to curb the “abusive use” of the SNS, and which has been criticised by PS.
The bill removes migrants without legal status from the list of beneficiaries with access to the SNS, and includes, in addition to Portuguese citizens, “citizens in a legal situation in national territory or in a situation of stay or temporary residence in Portugal, who are nationals of member states of the European Union or equivalent, nationals of third countries, as well as stateless persons or applicants for international protection”.
Sebastião Bugalho considered that universal access to the SNS, as stipulated in the Constitution, would not be jeopardised: “It’s very clear (in the PSD and CDS bill) that all vital emergencies that jeopardise human life would be treated in the national health service.”
“I don’t think it makes sense not to be rigorous when we want to protect access to these rights and demand documentation. It seems to me to be the most normal thing in the world,” said the Social Democrat MEP today.
In his opinion, it is necessary to “protect Portuguese public services from these human trafficking networks and illegal networks using the SNS”.
“Isn’t this obvious to the PS? I’m sorry,” he concluded.
On the occasion of International Migrants’ Day, Sebastião Bugalho emphasised that Portugal “is by nature an integrating, hospitable and humanist country, both in the Constitution, in the law and in society”.
The government led by Luís Montenegro has, he said, “the difficult task of dealing with problems that were left unresolved in migration matters, with more than 400,000 cases that were yet to be regularised“, considering that the end of the expression of interest aims to guarantee that “companies that hire and need immigrant labour ensure a minimum of conditions, a roof and a contract for these immigrants”.
Asked about the decision of several European countries to refuse entry to new Syrian refugees following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad’s regime, the MEP said that “international law is not suspended, depending on the circumstances of the country of origin”.
“The Geneva Convention is very clear and someone fleeing a scenario of terror or war has the right to asylum. That is international law. This Union respects international law,” he said.
Last week, the prime minister, Luís Montenegro, declared in parliament that he wanted to wait and see if there will be high pressure on the country, given the refusal of several countries to accept new Syrian refugees, but he guaranteed that the refugees who are in Portugal can stay and the pending cases will not be suspended.
Source: LUSA
