Portugal’s health minister resigned from her post after a pregnant Indian tourist dies while being shifted between hospitals in Lisbon.
The incident of Portugal’s health minister Marta Temido resigning from her post hours after an Indian tourist died from a cardiac arrest while being shifted between hospitals in Lisbon is making viral rounds on social media with the word “accountability” being used a lot.
A 34-year-old pregnant Indian tourist unfortunately suffered a cardiac arrest and died during an ambulance transfer from Santa Maria hospital, which had no vacancies in the neonatology service, to another hospital in the capital, news agency Reuters reported. Her baby was delivered following an emergency caesarean section.
During the trip, there was a cardiorespiratory arrest, and resuscitation work was carried out on the transport, reported RTP News.
According to Centro Hospitalar Universitario Lisboa Norte (CHULN), at the Sao Francisco Xavier Hospital, the pregnant woman was “submitted to an urgent cesarean section, with the newborn, weighing 722 grams, going to the neonatal intensive care unit for prematurity”.
“The mother was hospitalized in intensive care, and died”, said the CHULN, sending “the deepest condolences to the family”.
The prime minister of Portugal, Antonio Costa, was vexed because the Indian tourist died due to a medical delay and due to the recent medical mishaps, vexed exclaimed that the Indian tourist’s death was the ‘last straw.” This statement led to Temido’s resignation, as per Portugal’s Lusa news agency.
It is said that similar incidents were reported across Portugal in recent months, in which two infants died whose mothers had shifted between hospitals and suffered long delays.
Presently, an inquiry has been launched into the Indian tourist’s death.
Marta Temido Lauded For Care During COVID-19
While Marta Temido was lauded for her fantastic manner in handling the country’s vaccine rollout during the COVID-19 pandemic and bringing the pandemic under good control.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa Accepts Her Resignation
Marta Temido recently faced hefty criticism for her decision to temporarily close emergency obstetric services over the lack of doctors.
Prime Minister Antonio Costa said he had accepted her resignation and thanked Temido for her work and said the government would push ahead with reforms to strengthen the health infrastructure.
“I am grateful for all the work carried out by Dr Marta Temido, especially in the exceptional period of combating the #COVID19 pandemic. The @govpt continue the ongoing reforms with a view to strengthening the #SNS and improving healthcare provided to the Portuguese,” Prime Minister Antonio Costa said in a tweet.
— António Costa (@antoniocostapm) August 30, 2022
The government said that Marta Temido had ‘realised that she no longer had the conditions to remain in office.
The health minister faced the fury of opposition parties because pregnant women have to make risky trips to hospitals. Women had to wait for long hours as the shutting down of natal units led to overflowing maternity units.
Marta Temido, who became the health minister in 2018, was one of the most popular members of the centre-left Socialist government during the COVID-19 pandemic, the opinion polls suggest. However, her ratings suffered badly due to a shortage of health staff, especially those specialising in gynaecology and obstetrics, and other problems at public hospitals.
India’s Ministry of External Affairs spokesperson Arindam Bagchi has expressed grief over the incident and said, “We are aware of the Indian women who died in Portugal. I am not aware of the full details. We are in touch with the family. This is a very unfortunate incident.”
This is a Story of Accountability
This is a story of accountability, as Wion News also says. Never in the history of Indian democracy have we seen a minister resigning because of medical negligence. In India during COVID19, 60 people died due to oxygen shortage – a horrible case of negligence and the answer given was, “it happens.”
When some foreign tourists get raped on their trips to India, do any ministers resign because they failed to ensure proper safety and protection? Did they take accountablity. Yet, the health ministry took full responsibility for the death of an Indian tourist.
During the horror of the second wave of COVID in India, thousands died due to oxygen shortage, lack of hospital beds and could not get treatment on time, and there was a shortage of life-saving drugs.
Bodies were thrown into the Ganga River because many people did not have money to buy wood to cremate bodies, there was such a shortage of money and firewood, others wanted to dispose of people who died of COVID quickly and bodies were hastily dumped in the Ganga in the most tragic manner. In all this, there was no accountability. No one stood up to say they failed the people. While understanding that the population is huge, it is also true that if each state in India was given the necessary oxygen and medicines on time, and more hospitals had been built earlier, this could have been avoided.
The ministers must learn more about accountability because one never sees them resigning because of their failure, they just say, “it happens” end of the story and they continue as if nothing happened. Marta Temido stepping down is a great lesson to many ministers. Will they think about accountability and sometimes stepping down because they did not handle it well?