Africa-Press – Cape verde. The Minister of Family, Inclusion, and Social Development announced today in Lisbon that the government intends to increase the subsidy for patients transferred for treatment in Portugal, given the current economic situation in Portugal, particularly housing costs.
Fernando Elísio Freire was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the ceremony to transfer management of the support center for Cape Verdean patients transferred to Portugal because they cannot find clinical solutions in their own country.
This center, located in the municipality of Loures, was recently renovated and has a capacity for 42 people. It is expected to begin housing patients again within two or three months.
The approximately four dozen patients who will find accommodation in this facility are a minority compared to the approximately 1,500 patients in Portugal undergoing treatment under the cooperation agreement between the two countries.
The transfer of these patients costs the state, on average, approximately 9.06 million euros, mainly due to the subsidies paid to these citizens.
It is precisely the value of these subsidies that Fernando Elísio Freire said the government wants to increase and adjust to the “economic and social reality,” taking into account, in particular, that “housing prices in Portugal are as they are.”
“The National Social Security Institute (INPS) will determine whether or not it is able to review the amount of the benefit being provided, both for single patients and those with a companion, and for both single and companion retirees,” he said.
He continued: “We are working on this, but the final decision will always be one that takes into account the sustainability of the pension system and the system’s capacity to absorb this increase.”
The minister added that the Cape Verdean government’s desire is for “a review of this amount.”
“I believe that, at this time, given the rigorous asset management that INPS is carrying out, and the management of all funds, there are conditions that could lead us to conclude that this adjustment is possible. However, this is a matter that the [Institute’s] executive committee will decide on in due course,” he insisted.
Fernando Elísio Freire said that transferring the management of this center to the Cape Verdean Embassy in Portugal should boost its performance, particularly through cooperation with other organizations and institutions.
Regarding the patient transfer process, and especially regarding their return to Cape Verde, the minister assured that this is a medical, not an administrative, matter.
Even so, he acknowledged that there are patients who, already instructed to return, do not do so, and that, in these cases, support from the Cape Verdean state ends.
“Transferring patients is a medical act, just as returning a person is a medical act when the doctor says they can return to Cape Verde,” he said, adding that “most” of the patients return.
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