Lisbon, Nov. 11, 2025 (Lusa) - Presidential candidate Gouveia e Melo today said it was essential to define a course for the health service (SNS) that would ensure social cohesion, but not through any path that would weaken it.

This position was taken by the former Chief of Staff of the Navy at the end of a visit to the neonatology service at the Hospital de São Francisco Xavier, in Lisbon, where he praised the "spirit of mission" and "love of public service" shown by the professionals at this unit.

"This unit means a lot to me: both my children were born here. My eldest son was born when he was only eight months into the gestation and was treated here," said the admiral, who moments earlier, in a conversation with doctors, had commented that the São Xavier Hospital's obstetrics department has "a different feel, just like the São João Hospital in Porto".

"The obstetrics unit has a lot of capacity, but it also has problems. And it was important to be here and hear about the problems experienced by doctors, nurses and healthcare assistants," he said.

In this context, Admiral Gouveia e Meio then declared himself "totally in favour of the SNS, because this is the only way to achieve social cohesion, ensuring that no citizen's health depends on their financial capacity".

"This is a basic requirement for a cohesive and humanised society. That's what I stand for," he emphasised, before indirectly criticising a possible evolution of the Portuguese health system towards a US model.

"I'm against weakening the SNS. I think we should define the direction we want health to take in general terms, but never by weakening the SNS," he added.

PMF/ADB // ADB.

Lusa