Graça Freitas will leave the leadership of the Directorate-General for Health

The director-general of Health, Graça Freitas, will retire and leave the position she has held since 2018. The mandate ends this Saturday and the doctor will not renew it.

As confirmed by Public with a source from the Directorate-General for Health (DGS), Graça Freitas expected to retire in early 2023. The person in charge could run for another five-year term.

According to ObserverGraça Freitas has already communicated the decision to the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, and agreed to remain in the leadership of the DGS until a replacement is found.

The legislation requires the opening of a public tender, which will go through the Commission for Recruitment and Selection for Public Administration (Cresap). Nonetheless, Pizarro could nominate an interim replacementwhile the contest is running.

In a note sent to the press on Thursday, the Ministry of Health thanked “the availability shown by the Director-General for Health at the end of her term and all the commitment and dedication in leading the Directorate-General for Health over the last few years, especially in response to the pandemic, the greatest global public health crisis of the last century”.

“The choice [do próximo diretor-geral da Saúde] will naturally be carried out within a profile that fits within the scope of the DGS’s competences, where the responsibilities of the National Health Authority in the response to health and public health emergencieshe explained.

Since assuming leadership of the DGS and before the covid-19 pandemic, Graça Freitas had dealt with two outbreaks of legionella, a measles outbreak, periods of excess mortality due to the cold and flu and heat waves.