The hearings of Fernando Araújo and Ana Paula Martins, unanimously approved at today's meeting of the commission, had been requested by the Socialist bench, through a request submitted the day after the announcement of the resignation of the executive director of the SNS.

On April 23, Fernando Araújo announced his departure from the leadership of the executive board (DE-SNS), together with his team, claiming that he did not want to be an obstacle to the Government in the policies and measures that it considered necessary to implement.

In a statement released at the time, the doctor added that the DE-SNS is a "technical body, a public institute of the State, which must be above political issues or party agendas, and which executes public policies" determined by the Government.

In the request to request the hearings, the Socialist parliamentary group considered it "important to know and understand the specific reasons that led to the resignation of Fernando Araújo and what it means about the Government's intentions regarding the ongoing reform" in the SNS.

The executive board began its activity on January 1, 2023, following the new Statute of the National Health Service (SNS) proposed by then Minister Marta Temido, with the aim of coordinating the assistance response of all SNS units and modernizing its management.

Fernando Araújo said that, in the "first and only meeting held" with the Ministry of Health, the DE-SNS was informed of its willingness to continue in office, in order to complete the ongoing reform, but also making itself available to the "new government team, if it understood to change the policies and faces of the system".

He also requested that the resignation of the executive board take effect the day after the submission of the activity report requested by the ministry, which he claims he "learned by `e-mail´ at the same time that it was released in the media".

A day later -- April 24 -- the ministry announced that Ana Paula Martins had accepted Fernando Araújo's request for resignation and indicated that, "in due time, the solution for the Executive Board will be known" with the aim of carrying out the reforms that allow "turning the page in defense of the SNS".

In a statement, the Ministry of Health warned that "reality has revealed, every day, a very difficult situation" in access to health care and "in the management of human and financial resources of the SNS".

Ana Paula Martins' office also said that the termination of the team's mandate will be effective with the submission of an activity report and the status of the SNS executive board within 60 days.

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