Minister of Health Ana Paula Martins has once again refused to resign from her post following a tragedy involving obstetric care in Portugal.
Challenged over the death in the early hours of this morning of a woman identified in hospital as suffering from high blood pressure in the final stages of pregnancy, she said plainly: “No, I will not resign.”
Ms Martins was appearing before members of the parliamentary committee on Budget and Finance. She was challenged by CHEGA MP Marta Silva, and according to Lusa, her response “was not immediate. Marta Silva had to insist on the question (…) Ana Paula Martins based her initial response on the hospital’s statement, saying she ‘regretted’ what had happened.
Also in her initial response, the minister referred to the increase in births outside hospitals, in ambulances and on public roads, suggesting “most of these are pregnant women who have never been monitored during their pregnancy, are new arrivals in Portugal, are in advanced stages of pregnancy and, in some cases, do not even speak Portuguese.”
Confusingly, minister Martins made out that the dead woman’s Wednesday consultation had been her first, when previous reports suggested she was first seen in Portugal in September.
Whatever the exact sequence of events, today’s unmitigated tragedy is the subject of an internal hospital investigation and a wider investigation by IGAS (the general inspectorate of health activities).
The baby of the young woman who died is still fighting for life in neo-natal intensive care at Amadora-Sintra.
Source material: LUSA
