Chega will offer up to 20% increase for healthcare workers

Chega will propose as part of next year’s state budget an increase of up to 20% in salaries for medical workers, as well as equality between contract and permanent workers, the party chairman said.

In a statement to journalists at Chega’s headquarters in Lisbon, Andre Ventura said his party would offer “a pay rise of up to 20% for all NHS professionals.”

Noting that the next budget will provide increased funds for this area, the Chegi leader said that “the budgeted increase of 9.8% will allow for an increase of 20% without creating a major crisis in the national health system.”

Andre Ventura said Chega MPs would also propose “equalizing” the rights of contract workers with permanent employees, given that “it is incomprehensible that many continue to be treated differently,” which he called “an injustice.”

“This equivalence was a fundamental and decisive step to ensure that problems in the Ministry of Health are reduced to an acceptable level so that the system works for the benefit of the Portuguese people,” he said.

This Monday, President Chegi also called on the government to clarify the amount that will be allocated for mental health, as well as to detail the planned measures, saying that “it is not defined” in the document.

“Nobody knows how much will be spent on mental health, and this raises suspicions that not much will be spent,” he said.

Andre Ventura has called for a “decent amount of money” to be allocated to the area, warning that Portuguese mental health is “deteriorating significantly”.

The MP said the proposals were “easy to implement given the budget” presented by the government.

Ventura also asked the President of the Republic to communicate that the 2024 budget “should provide solutions, which it does not have, for the social network and health services provided to the Portuguese.”