This Thursday, the Council of Ministers approved a temporary and exceptional supplement to doctors’ overtime pay, which the government considers necessary to guarantee the functioning of emergency services.
“The amount of the bonus will increase gradually, with a bonus of between 40% and 70% of the basic salary of each doctor for each block of 40 hours of work performed, in addition to the payment for the hours actually worked,” the Council of Ministers, meeting in Oliveira de Azemeis, Aveiro, said in a statement.
The executive says the decree-law now approved establishes a temporary and exceptional system of “remuneration of National Health Service (NHS) doctors” through a pay supplement that “values work performed outside normal working hours”.
The system is “voluntary for the worker” and is “essential to ensuring the functioning of emergency NHS services”, according to a statement which said doctors’ representative bodies had been consulted.
On Monday, the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) accused the government of wanting to pay overtime at the same price as normal work, with no maximum limits until the end of the year, which puts patient safety at risk.
The federation accused the ministry of presenting it with a proposal for a decree-law that “intends to pay doctors for additional work at the price of normal work, without maximum limits until the end of the year.”
Fnam said the now-approved diploma had not been discussed with unions and was “incorrectly” classified as a productivity boost for additional work beyond the legal annual limit of 150 hours, or 250 hours in the case of full-time doctors.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Tifany Hawkins, a professional journalist with years of experience in news reporting. I currently work for a prominent news website and write articles for 24NewsReporters as an author. My primary focus is on economy-related stories, though I am also experienced in several other areas of journalism.