The Minister of Health “will continue to do Herculean work” and the media frenzy “will pass and burst,” says Leitão Amaro.

The Minister of the Presidency today declined to comment directly on reports that the Minister of Health intends to leave the Government, but assured that Ana Paula Martins "will continue to do Herculean work" in the sector.

At the press conference following the weekly Council of Ministers meeting, António Leitão Amaro was repeatedly asked whether or not the Minister of Health is leaving the Government, after news reports from Observador and Expresso indicated that Ana Paula Martins intends to leave the executive branch, on a date to be agreed upon with the Prime Minister.

"We are not distracted by this media froth, these discussions that begin and end in newspapers, in commentaries," he stated, without ever responding directly.

When asked if the entire government stands in solidarity with the minister, as Paulo Rangel stated on Wednesday, Leitão Amaro answered affirmatively.

“Everyone in the Government knows this: if there is anyone in the Government who inherited a heavy legacy, and who has done, and has to do, and will continue to do a Herculean task to solve a dramatic problem left in the National Health Service, if there is anyone who has that heavy legacy, but the capacity, the confidence to solve it, it is surely the Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins,” he said.

The Minister of the Presidency considered that the persistent questions about a possible government reshuffle are part of a "media exercise, of speculation, that begins and ends there," arguing that the Portuguese people expect "concrete measures" from the Government.

"And let the media speculation stay where it is, and where it will remain. Like foam, it will pass, it will burst, and it will disappear in a short time," he predicted.