Given the intransigence of the Health Minister, Ana Paula Martins, in agreeing to negotiate solutions to attract doctors to the National Health Service (NHS), namely new salary grids to be included in the next State Budget and improvement of current ailing work conditions, doctors were pushed to strike, demanding respect and support to the NHS. The National Federation of Doctors (FNAM) issued strike notices for July 23th and 24th, with rallies on the 23th, in Porto, Coimbra and Lisbon. The notice also covers strike against overtime work in primary health care until August 31st.
In Portugal we have 1.6 million citizens without a family doctor. Moreover, obstetrics and pediatric emergency rooms are often closed, forcing pregnant women and children to travel many miles, and there are long waiting times in general emergency rooms due to the lack of doctors. Doctors in Portugal are among the lowest paid in the European Union and have seen their working conditions deteriorate over the last two decades. Therefore, doctors are quitting the NHS in exchange to the private sector, working in outsourcing and emigration.
Although, FNAM accepted all the issues tabled by Health Minister in current negotiating protocol - such as the review of the evaluation system, medical residency training, and specific rules for organizing medical work – the Ministry refused to integrate our solutions to attract doctors to the NHS, such as the starting of negotiation process on salary grids and postponed it to 2025.
Therefore, the recovery of purchasing power loss in the last decade of 18.5% is jeopardized. It should be mentioned that this loss is the highest in all Portuguese Public Administration.
Furthermore, the Ministry has been intransigent by not accepting the review of normal weekly working period towards the 35-hours and reintegration of medical residents into the medical career, measures that would not have any negative impact in the State Budget.
Instead of negotiating, the Health Minister published, unilaterally, two Decree-Laws, without FNAM agreement. The first delayed the dire need for recruitment of new specialists for the NHS, who despite having completed their training in March are still to be placed. The other, changed the method of payment for overtime work beyond legal limits. In this case, doctors will be paid as normal work with allocation of supplements through a perverse system of counting hours.
We are committed to carry out this strike as a warning call to the Health Minister Ana Paula Martins, from whom we demand respect, the start of serious negotiations to reach true solutions in order to attract more doctors to the depleted NHS for the improvement of overall population health in Portugal.