Doctors’ refusal is expected to affect more hospitals in the coming weeks.
In Barcelos, the hospital’s emergency surgical department, which serves 160,000 people, will close every day in October, due to “not many doctors” being available to do the extra work. The Internal Medicine Emergency Department will also be closed on weekends starting next Saturday, the 7th. The alternative will be Braga Hospital. In Guarda, the emergency service will operate according to holidays and weekends. The local health unit confirms that the service “will be open 24 hours,” but given the embarrassment caused by the lack of availability shown by doctors, the operation will be “conditional” on holidays and weekends. In Leiria, a hospital that serves 400,000 users will spend nights without cardiologists and surgeons this month. Doctors’ refusal to work overtime is expected to affect more hospitals in the coming weeks. Recall that in the case of maternity hospitals, of the 38 hospitals in the SNS, 26 are operating at full capacity, while ten scheduled closure days are scheduled and two are closed due to works (Caldas da Rainha and Santa María).
Unions hold Socialist Party Minister Manuel Pizarro responsible
The National Federation of Doctors (FNAM), led by Joana Bordallo y Sa, blames the Minister of Health, Manuel Pizarro, for the disruption of the emergency room. “The NHS cannot afford to count on 8 million extra hours of work being worked by doctors every year,” says FNAM. More than 1,500 doctors are unavailable for overtime. On the 17th there was a demonstration in front of the Ministry of Health.
