The past few days have been politically fruitful for discussions about regime agreements, agreements and consensus. All this is relative to the location of the new Lisbon airport. No one doubts the strategic importance of this decision and the commitments that come with it, given the importance of the investment in question. In fact, the new Lisbon airport goes far beyond a simple decision about its geographic location, taking into account external factors arising from social, economic and strategic areas. There is talk of a global investment of more than 6 billion euros, the implementation of which will take more than ten years. As for the importance of consensus, there will certainly not be many dissenters in this decision. It is therefore unfortunate that on an issue of much greater importance to all Portuguese, as in the case of the National Health Service (SNS), this momentum for a broad political consensus is also not being given. On the contrary, we have long seen the use of social networks as a tool of political struggle. As if social networks, by definition, are not the best guide for democracy, where a sense of social justice, protection of the rights of every citizen, every person is expressed and implemented with greater obviousness.

The profoundly unhelpful tendency to turn health issues, and social media in particular, into a privileged platform for partisan political struggle, segmentation of positions, and rejection of broad consensus has only made their urgent reform and transformation more difficult. This blockade results in losses for the Portuguese and can only be resolved in a lasting and consistent manner if a strategic approach is possible that leads to a medium and long term social contract. Sparse, inconsistent and incoherent legislative proceedings will only contribute to the fact that it will be practically impossible to unravel the entropy and tangle of contradictions. Social media sustainability will only be achieved if public policy is supported by broad consensus in the medium to long term. The risks associated with demographic evolution, the growing burden of chronic diseases, the progressive dependence of health on social spheres, and the vulnerability associated with the rising costs of therapeutic and technological innovations require solutions that have a horizon of stability ahead. , policy coherence and stability.

If we just stay on slogans momentary, meaningless rhetoric, false struggle that feeds the daily quarrel, we do not benefit the people. The National Health Service is the greatest “public cause” in the history of democracy, the results and consequences of which will never cease, let alone a decade. Thus, the SNS deserves no less attention than the new Lisbon airport, in the apparent ongoing search for a broad political consensus. But the consensus, which is a democratic reflection of the will of the vast majority of citizens and is not conditioned by any pressure. The future of social media inevitably involves understanding current reality, current circumstances, and making commitments that anticipate the future. This will not be possible with ideas, projects or partners that have long lost the ability to understand the world in the gaps of history. Persistence in this path will only mean postponing the inevitable, making it almost impossible to untie this Gordian knot.

Physician and former Minister of Health