“We’re convinced that we shall, by the end of the year, with the extension of the exceptional regime for the hiring of retired doctors, and with other measures, manage to guarantee that (...) all Portuguese will be able to have a family doctor,” Passos Coelho told parliament.
In his opening comments to the fortnightly debate in the assembly, the prime minister said that the year since the formal departure of the ‘troika’ of international institutions that oversaw Portugal’s euro-zone bailout had been overall positive. He cited the fact that the state treasury had earlier in the day sold treasury bills at negative yields - for the first time ever, he stressed - as proof of “consistent recovery” in the economy.
Passos Coelho said he felt “very proud” of the job the right-of-centre coalition government had done, and that Portugal had shown it was “a country that doesn’t need the troika to do what is needed.”