These are temporary measures, they are only there because the National Health Service is in disarray, but they are not measures to restructure the sector, Fnam President Joana Bordallo e Sa told Lusa.
Today, Wednesday, May 29, the National Union of Physicians (Fnam) considered that the health emergency plan presented by the government is a set of empty measures that make the profession more dangerous.
These are temporary measures, they are only there because the National Health Service is in disarray, but they are not measures to restructure the sector, Fnam President Joana Bordallo e Sa told Lusa.
On Wednesday, May 29, the government presented the Health Emergency Plan, which includes measures such as establishing clinical care centers to deal with less complex and urgent acute cases, creating 20 family health units for 180,000 users, and allocating incentives for oncology surgeries or a direct service channel for pregnant women.
Commenting on the announcement, the Fnam president lamented that the measures are “based on incentives” that will “create more inequality” and “disrupt teams.” What the government is doing, he said, “is calling for more overtime as well as more precarious work.”
Joana Bordallo e Sá also commented on the announcement of the participation of the private and social sectors in the plan, saying that it is nothing new, because they have always been involved and already receive many millions of euros annually.
“There is financial availability for that but there is no availability to invest in the NHS,” he lamented, adding that doctors remain the lowest paid professionals in the EU and that the measures announced today will lead to more staff leaving abroad. And for the private sector.
“Fnam continues to fight to improve the situation of doctors, and this is done at the negotiating table,” said Joana Bordallo e Sa, highlighting the importance of a “public, accessible and universal” social services system.
After the government presented a proposal for a negotiation protocol last week, the Fnam party will present a counter-proposal at the next meeting, which includes the topics it considers to be priorities.
In a statement, Fnam also stressed the importance of investing in SNS “and its human resources,” including “paying fair salaries to all doctors and creating attractive working conditions.”
The statement concludes that the government has chosen “temporary measures, devoid of solutions, based on uncertain and insufficient incentives, which means the deterioration of working conditions will worsen, which will exacerbate inequality and exacerbate the unemployment of teams.”
