To the Observer, the Vice President of the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine (APMGF) expressed his regret that in three months, “There has been no relevant new development in the field of primary health care.” He criticizes the guardianship for not listening to the association that represents thousands of family doctors when preparing the emergency plan. “Maybe that’s why the measures take so long to implement, because they may not be the most appropriate,” highlights Antonio Luz Pereira.
If, on the one hand, the APMGF does not disagree with the government’s intention to establish partnerships with the private and social sector to respond to users who do not have a designated family doctor (more than 1.6 million people), on the other hand, it sees the opening of a universal hotline for same-day appointments to be of limited practical effectiveness.Regarding the service line, we believe that it will be a priority to strengthen the health centre lines.“Many health centres still have old telephone exchanges, which only serve one user at a time,” says Antonio Luz Pereira, recalling that many health centres still have “old telephone exchanges.”
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Antonio Luz Pereira also criticizes the government’s choice to open so-called clinical care centers (structures that receive non-urgent patients previously examined in hospitals) and argues that resources should be allocated first to primary health care.We scatter resources.The doctor, who works in Porto, says that if this money and professionals were allocated to primary health care, it could be more effective and allow more people to access it.
Regarding the allocation of family doctors to waiting users with the current capacity of the public sector, a measure that the Ministry of Health explains is related to the opening of 900 vacancies for specialists in general medicine and family medicine, an official source from the Ministry of Health says that local health units have already opened competitions to recruit doctors in health centers, competitions that are ongoing.
Regarding strengthening the public response in partnership with the private sector (and more specifically with the Hospital de Cascais), the mandate states that the partnership with the Hospital Unit (the only public hospital currently managed under the PPP system) will be strengthened and is due to be approved by the government in early September.
On the mental health front, the government has not implemented any of the three urgent measures. A mental health program for the security forces is also being created; chronic mental health cases are being deinstitutionalized; and psychologists are being hired to provide primary health care. Regarding the latter, which is also the most symbolic, the head of the psychiatric association points out that it was urgent and that The order “had the expectation and desire that it could actually be implemented.”which does not happen.
