Welcome to the Official page of the Presidency of the Portuguese Republic

I am very pleased to join today the Inaugural Act of the Porto Salus Complex, a partnership between the Azeitão Holy Almshouse and the Visabeira Group.

I have been aware for some time of the notable social work carried out by the Azeitão Holy Almshouse and, particularly, by its Purveyor, Dr. Jorge Maria Lopes de Carvalho.

A work in aid to the people that lives up to it’s almost 393 years of history and in which looms the rendering of health care.

The Azeitão Holy Almshouse has been decorated by the services rendered, in particular, in palliative care to terminal patients where it was, in effect, a pioneer.

The action that this institution places at the centre of its daily activity is a legacy of the spirit of social intervention that presided to the foundation of Almshouses and which has kept until now, an extraordinary up to datedness.

I had the opportunity to become acquainted with the modern facilities of the new Hospital of Our Lady of Arrábida.

Now with access to this new health care structure, the county’s population, especially the neediest, aged and sick, will continue benefiting directly from the action of the Azeitão Holy Almshouse, with its professionals and its voluntary workers.

It should be stressed that all health care is provided at no cost to patients identified by the Almshouse.

At a time when so many families are going through difficulties, a guarantee of dignity in sickness, through the rendering of quality health care and support to social and family insertion of those that live in dependency situations, must be at the centre of political concerns.

To answer situations of social emergency and aid the most needy, as well as to harbour and care for the most aged, is a priority which must not be called into question by reasons of budgetary targets.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We are exactly one month away from the end of the programme of economic and financial aid to which Portugal recurred in May 2011.

I have for some time been calling attention to the need for Portugal to adequately prepare the post-troika period. I did so considering that it is indispensable that our country’s future be timely prepared, construing the necessary commitments and being well aware of the duties to which we are bound.

Some of the measures adopted implied extreme sacrifices for many Portuguese, who live nowadays with great difficulties and in intolerable poverty situations.

Unfair situations were created, which must now be corrected, is this new stage of the country’s life.

The indicators that we are becoming aware of and which evince a clear recovery of the economy, a reduction in unemployment and an increase in the climate of confidence, are a window of hope for the Portuguese which were harder struck.

The budgetary dividend of economic growth, provided by the increase in tax revenues and by the reduction in unemployment benefits, is an opportunity that must be used to reach a better reconciliation between the European rules of discipline in public accounts and the correction of injustices accumulated in latter years. Social cohesion and the challenges of the future so impose.

In the distribution of the budgetary dividend of economic growth, the groups which suffered greater sacrifices and which, in some cases, may have been disproportionate, must be considered primarily.

The Portuguese demonstrated, while this difficult Adjustment Programme remained in force, an admirable sense of community.

It is now important that the signs of hope we view in the horizon may be materialized, including, in the citizen’s perception of increased equity and justice, essential values for the preservation of national cohesion.

Social institutions, of which the Azeitão Holy Almshouse is an example, have played an essential role in this difficult moment of our collective life.

The role of the Social Sector in the Portuguese economy is fundamental and, we can so state, structural, not just because of the needs that have been demonstrated, but also due to the demographic evolution verified, defined by the growing age of the population.

The demand for new formulae of cooperation between private institutions of social solidarity and companies, of which this Porto Salus Complex is an example, should thus be acclaimed.

The partnership model found for the materialization of this project, combining Hospital and Assisted Living Facilities seems, furthermore, particularly appropriate to the complementary relationship of the objectives pursued.

For this reason I wish to leave with the Azeitão Holy Almshouse and Visabeira, as well as with all the employees of this new Porto Salus Complex, a word of congratulations and of incentive for the important work which will be developed here.

Thank you very much