Opinion Portuguese health minister stepping down after death of an Indian tourist is a moment to pause on

On Tuesday, the Portuguese government announced that the country’s health minister, Marta Temido, had resigned because she realised that she “no longer had the conditions” to remain in office. Temido was acknowledging responsibility for the death of a pregnant Indian tourist who did not receive proper hospital care. The 34-year-old woman reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest while being transferred between Lisbon hospitals on August 27. The death has sparked social media outrage over the Portuguese health ministry’s decision to close emergency obstetric services in several hospitals during weekends. Temido, a Phd in Public Health and a hospital management expert, had been under fire because the weekend off-day policy was forcing women to make risky trips to healthcare facilities situated far from their homes. Critics blamed the problems on the government’s failure to plan for the staff shortage during the summer vacation period. Matters have evidently come to a head after the death of the Indian tourist.

Of course, the minister’s response to the tragic incident will not fix the doctor shortage problem. But by choosing not to ride out the crisis, Temido has directed attention to a principle that seems to have, more and more, slipped out of the lexicon of those holding high office — accountability. Even before the Covid pandemic, ministers and heads of government in several parts of the world — including India — have presided over catastrophic health system failures, illness and deaths, including of children. And they have mostly managed to keep their jobs, often by offloading blame onto minor officials of their departments. The only appraisal that seems to matter for those holding high office seems to be their fate at the electoral hustings. Nor is this malaise, as the pandemic has brought into sharper focus, confined to the Third World. It took the resignation of several of his colleagues for UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson to finally give up his prolonged attempts to cling to power amid accusations that his government had not been responsive and responsible in the midst of a public health emergency.

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In a Europe that seems to be closing in on itself and turning inward-looking — despite people from outside the continent making it to high offices — the public outcry over the Indian tourist and the health minister’s response to the tragedy is notable for another reason: An “outsider” is, or tragically was, at the centre of the story.