"Several things are being studied that could have been done, in part, by the previous government. We are resuming the processes and everything will follow its course", guaranteed Rosário Palma Ramalho, in statements to journalists on the sidelines of the opening session of the 14th National Mutualism Congress, in Vila Nova de Gaia.

At the opening session, which she presided over, the Minister of Labour, Solidarity and Social Security had already recognised the importance of the mutualist movement in strengthening social protection, assuring that "the Government will continue to work alongside mutualists", accelerating the study of the constraints denounced today by the Portuguese Mutualities.

The president of the Union of Portuguese Mutualities, Luís Alberto Silva, defended today that in order for the mutualist movement to play an even more relevant role in Portuguese society, strengthening the support provided to more than 2.5 million people, it is necessary to resolve the constraints that have created entropies in the development and modernisation of institutions, such as the Mutualist Associations Code, which urgently needs to be changed.

In an appeal to the supervisory authority, the leader also proposed the revision of the cooperation model between the State and the social sector for the celebration of new speciality conventions and agreements for the prescription of complementary means of diagnosis and therapeutics, and the acceleration of the celebration of protocols for the provision of healthcare by mutualist clinics and hospitals and other social institutions.

Luís Alberto Silva also defended, among other matters, the amendment of the Legal Framework for Social Pharmacies in order to allow the opening of 25 new social pharmacies in mutualities.

In response to the specification book left today by the Portuguese Mutualities, the minister also said that she is coordinating with the Ministry of Health complementary or joint responses to various issues, including the amendment of the Legal Framework for Social Pharmacies, defended by the mutualists, which would allow the opening of 25 more social pharmacies.

"I will ensure that it is done", she stated.

The minister also assured that the Revision of the Mutualist Associations Code is underway and announced that the working group, created by the previous Government, has been reactivated to ascertain the real value of the charges of the social sector institutions.

Emphasising the commitment of the Government led by the social democrat Luís Montenegro to social protection, which includes the private sector, the minister stressed the need to deepen responses in a framework in which the risk of poverty rate in Portugal, before any social transfer, is 41.8%, according to the latest data, revealed by the Observatory of Inequalities.

Of these, half remain at risk of poverty and exclusion even after social transfers, "most of them elderly or disabled people", detailed the minister who listed some of the measures already taken by the Government, such as the 100% co-payment of medicines for the approximately 140,000 beneficiaries of the Solidarity Supplement, approved on 9 May.

On the other hand, she continued, the Government is betting "on new, less statist models of social responses that focus more on keeping elderly people in their homes and communities, as much as possible, delaying or avoiding institutionalisation".

"This involves empowering public institutions, but also social sector institutions for innovative responses that prioritise this support more focused on autonomy, such as home support, informal carers, telecare", she concluded, adding that she is coordinating with Health "a complementary or joint response" within the scope of home and medical support, in collaboration with the social economy.

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