This Friday, the Health Minister confirmed that the government has held a “good faith” dialogue with medical unions with “remarkable developments” in the proposals, hoping that the negotiating meeting on Saturday will have a positive outcome.
On the eve of another meeting with the National Federation of Doctors and the Independent Union of Doctors, Manuel Pizarro told reporters on the sidelines of the “One Health, One Ethics” seminar in Lisbon that he did not want to be “overly optimistic”, but wanted the meeting to produce a “positive result.”
“The government has held a dialogue, it is a good-faith dialogue, with a noticeable evolution of proposals, and we continue to work to bring positions closer together,” the minister said.
Manuel Pizarro insisted that the government is ready to respond to doctors’ demands, for example by gradually reducing working hours from the current 40 hours to 35, and the number of hours doctors must work in the emergency department from 18 to 12.
“But I think everyone understands that this can only be done within a framework that guarantees that it will lead to increased responsiveness to the concerns of the Portuguese,” he stressed.
Asked about the 30% wage increase demanded by unions to reach an agreement, Manuel Pizarro said several proposals for flexibility had been presented that “far exceed this value.”
“This is not the only thing at stake. We are getting closer, and no one can expect that negotiations will mean intransigence on both sides. Both sides must come closer so that an agreement can be reached,” he stressed.
Regarding the statements of the President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, who argued that it was more important to “get the management machine” of the National Health Service on its feet than to reach an agreement between the government and doctors, he said that they confirm the understanding of what was insisted on, what should be based agreement.
“The agreement with doctors should be based on three aspects,” the first of which is improving Portuguese people’s access to healthcare.
The second aspect, he added, was to create the conditions for the reorganization of the National Health Service so that restrictions “which are more pronounced today, but which are not completely new, are not repeated.”
“Finally, [o acordo] we must value professionals, otherwise this negotiating table would not make sense and we must achieve a balance in this matter,” the minister emphasized on the sidelines of a seminar organized by the National Council of Ethics of the Life Sciences (CNECV), which takes place at the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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