Portugal’s Health Minister Marta Temido resigned on Tuesday after criticism of her decision to temporarily close midwifery services and forcibly transfer a pregnant Indian woman between hospitals.
Temido said in one sentence that she “no longer has the qualifications” to hold the post, which the prime minister accepted, Portugal’s national public broadcaster RTP News reported.
Her resignation was announced five hours after news of the death of a pregnant woman in Lisbon.
In a note published on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had already assumed that he was waiting for Health Minister Marta Temido’s resignation request and the proposal to appoint his successor.
“The President of the Republic has been informed by the Prime Minister (…) of the intention of the Minister of Health, Marta Temido, to resign, a position which she has accepted,” reads a text published on the Presidency’s website in Internet titled “Notice of Health Minister’s intention to resign”.
A pregnant Indian woman died on Saturday after being transferred from Hospital de Santa Maria to Hospital Sao Francisco Xavier on Tuesday because there were no more vacancies in neonatology.
Cardiovascular arrest occurred during the drive and resuscitation work was carried out on the transport, RTP News reported.
According to Centro Hospitalar Universitario Lisboa Norte (CHULN) at Sao Francisco Xavier Hospital, the pregnant woman “underwent an urgent cesarean section, with the newborn weighing 722 grams being admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit for premature delivery.”
“The mother was hospitalized in intensive care and died,” CHULN said, sending “the family’s deepest condolences.”
Marta Temido will remain in office until a successor is elected. The successor must be approved by the Council of Ministers scheduled for September 15. But the presentation can be anticipated.
The state secretaries Antonio Lacerda Sales and Maria de Fatima Fonseca are also leaving the Ministry of Health.
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