Portugal's Health Minister Marta Temido resigned within five hours of the death of a pregnant Indian lady in Lisbon who suffered a cardiac arrest while shuttling from Hospital de Santa Maria to Hospital Sao Francisco Xavier due to a lack of beds in the neonatology service.
Temido, who was praised for her handling of the pandemic, has been facing severe criticism over the temporary closure of emergency services that led to risky transfers of pregnant women between hospitals. To compound issues, she was dealing with a severe shortage of doctors that led to the national health service failure. Despite the challenging situations, Temido accepted responsibility for "failures" and, in a one-sentence resignation, said she "no longer has the conditions" to exercise the position.
The 34-year-old Indian lady's death may not be the sole reason for her resignation, but certainly, that moment led the health minister to take that step. Portugal has been grappling with health staff shortages for a long time, especially in the gynaecology and obstetrics departments. Recently two infants died in separate incidents due to delays caused during transfers of mothers between hospitals.
Sadly, as much as the death of the lady made international headlines, the prompt resignation by the country's health minister has caught the attention of many. Temido's resignation has set an extraordinary example of accountability in public life, which is rare in current times where the chase is for power. How many political leaders would stand up for scrutiny and resign over failures in their respective work areas? How many of our representatives and ministers would own up to responsibility and step down over a loss that affects public life?
The only leader who took responsibility for failures in recent memory is Madhavrao Scindia. He quit as a railways minister in July 1988 when over 100 people died when a train fell into a river in Quilon, Kerala, but resumed at the insistence of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi. Later in 1992, Scindia quit when an aircraft crashed.
Cut into Goa, and Temido's resignation sets one profoundly thinking. One is reminded of the ghastly May 2021 midnight deaths at the GMC, where at least nearly a hundred innocent lives were lost due to mismanagement of oxygen supply. There is a flashback of the food crisis that Goa faced when Covid hit a new high early into the pandemic. Not forgetting, decisions to allow tourists a free run into Goa with the slogan "the show must go on" saw the second wave of Covid sweeping into the State and crippling life.
Ironically, when people were dying either due to lack of oxygen or timely medical attention, none of the ministers or people's representatives stood up and held themselves at least partly accountable. On the contrary, attention was being diverted from deaths, and there was a blame game. The GMC midnight deaths were the worst human tragedy that Goa has witnessed in recent times, and yet nobody accepted responsibility.
If we recall, in 2021, Portugal's interior minister quit after the car he was travelling in was involved in a car crash that killed a road worker. Now, the health minister has resigned. These are shining examples of public figures showing sensitivity and becoming accountable, and there are lessons to learn here for every leader in public service.
