The queues for surgeries in the Portuguese social health care services are known for being long. What I wasn’t aware of, was that this doesn’t apply only to surgeries.

Around June last year, my father asked for a psychiatrist consultation in his local hospital and was putted on hold. Unfortunately, in August he had a stroke and now he is part of what he was before. After several consultations on private doctors he managed to recover quite well, but never 100%. He was lucky though, it could had been much worse and we know that.
Why am I writing about this now? Because today he told me that on last January, he got a letter from the hospital, scheduling the requested consultation, for next April. He had already forgotten of it. Would a on time consultation change anything for him? I really can’t tell. Still, 9 months to get a psychiatry consultation that lasts a few moments is ridiculous. At least to me.
I’m tired of living on a country where this things are so common they are considered normal by some. Where some people still have to get up at 5am to try to be received by a doctor that has too many patients to attend to properly. Where some people got to the point of nicknaming their local hospital as the ‘butcher’. And mock about it. Where some people have too much suffering that could be avoided if there was a proper social health care service. Where the guys who are supposed to fix this are fighting and pouting about their sexual orientation while running to get to be prime-ministers.