Miguel Xavier, who was heard at the Parliamentary Health Commission, at the request of the Bloco de Esquerda, considered the number of psychologists in primary health care "manifestly insufficient", stressing that the response model used in Portugal is one of articulation between doctors of family, psychologists, nurses and psychiatrists.

"This model needs dedicated people from the point of view of psychology in health centres", he considered.

Asked about articulation with hospitals, Miguel Xavier said that there is already an articulation between psychiatric hospital care and primary health care, and that there are "good examples", but stressed that "there is no model implemented for the non-pharmacological response to depression and anxiety in our country".

"And this does not go there with 40, 50 or 60 psychologists. It takes a lot more people", said the official, who said he recognized that these professionals will not be able to enter all at once, but that they will have to enter gradually.

On what remains to be done in the area of ​​mental health in recent years, Miguel Xavier said: "everything that was planned in 2019 from a structural point of view and the situations that involve the non-compliance with the human rights of the patients remains to be done".