The Shared Services of the Ministry of Health opened a public tender with a base of 900,000 euros to acquire a "centralized telecare service," seeking to promote healthy lifestyles and greater adherence to medical prescriptions, with the aim of reducing acute episodes and avoidable hospitalizations. The service will be implemented through a mobile application, probably by a commercially successful technology company, possibly a "unicorn."
The article questions the need for this service, arguing that the Family Doctor already performs these functions competently and based on science in the intimacy of the office. The text describes "coaching" as a procedure that originated in England in the 19th century for motivation in sports, with no scientific recognition to this day, which evolved into motivational techniques for individual ambitions and that is now intended to be applied to the management of patients' clinical situations.
Fernando Leal da Costa, former sub-Director General of Health, former Deputy Secretary of State to the Minister of Health, and former Minister of Health, classifies the initiative as "a scandalous waste of public money" and argues that an investigation into what may be behind this should be demanded. Goiana da Silva concludes that "it seems we are inventing problems to justify a solution that someone really wants to sell to the State," considering this the most plausible conclusion.
