Portugal’s prime minister LuĂs Montenegro has guaranteed today that if political responsibility is established for the deaths that occurred during the emergency ambulance service (INEM) strike earlier this month, “it will have to be taken on board”.
But he said, this does not mean resignations will follow. “I have to take responsibility for what the members of the government do, for what the institutions we oversee do,” he said. But “I am not thinking of resigning (…) I am thinking of taking responsibility.
Taking on political responsibilities does not mean resigning. That is a new concept, that concept doesn’t existâ, he said. The deaths of 11 people allegedly linked to what Lusa describes as âshortcomings in INEM’s serviceâ (really meaning long delays in attending emergency calls) led to the opening of seven inquiries by the public prosecutor’s office, one of which has already been closed, attributing no causal link. There is also an ongoing health service regulator (IGAS) inquiry.
