The President of the Republic vetoed changes to the Charter of the Medical Association

The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on Tuesday vetoed a parliamentary resolution amending the Statute of the Order of Physicians and promulgated a decree amending the Statute of the Order of Certified Accountants.

These decisions of the head of state were published on the official website of the President of the Republic on the Internet.

Both decrees are part of a package of changes to the statutes of professional orders, approved by the Assembly of the Republic on October 13 with a vote in favor of the PS.

Before the decree on the Order of Doctors, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa had already vetoed four other decrees in the package, concerning the statutes of the orders of engineers, architects, nurses and lawyers.

These vetoes precede by just over a month the dissolution of the Assembly of the Republic, which must be issued by decree of the President of the Republic on January 15.

According to the Constitution, in the presence of a political veto, the Assembly of the Republic can approve a decree by an absolute majority of the sitting deputies, 116 out of 230, in which case the President of the Republic will have to promulgate the decree. diploma.

In a note on the decree amending the Statute of the Order of Physicians, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reports that he decided to veto after consultation with the relevant chairman, Carlos Cortes. Attached is a letter addressed to the President of the Assembly of the Republic, Augusto Santos Silva, regarding this veto.

In this letter, the head of state states that “in accordance with the position of the Order of Physicians, the statute does not guarantee the autonomy of the Order, especially with regard to the competence of specialized colleges” and that “the words of the Order of Physicians question the principle of self-regulation that establishes relations in the sphere of hierarchy.”

“On the other hand, by removing the Medical Association from significant intervention regarding the recognition of the suitability and corresponding potential of training services, as well as the determination of the content of training for each specialty, aspects of a purely technical nature, it seeks the quality of training of these specialists in the future and, as a consequence, the quality of medical assistance and patient safety, as well as the organization and stability of the National Health Service (NHS),” says the President of the Republic.

According to Marcelo Rebelo de Souza, “the new formulation of the medical law also appears to be inadequate, since there appears to be overlap in the skills of different health professionals, creating an inherent risk in the provision of medical care to patients.”

In another note on the statute of the Order of Certified Accountants, the President of the Republic announces that he decided to promulgate it after hearing the relevant President, Virgilio Macedo.

“However, as part of a possible legislative change to this Regulation, it would be advisable for the legislator to take into account the specifics of the profession, which is now subject to dual supervision (the Legal regime of audit supervision and the independent supervisory body created under the Order), so that there are no conflicts of competence when supervising control and legal functions , especially in relation to subjects of public interest,” the head of state suggests.

In vetoing the new Statute of the Order of Physicians, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa reiterates that he does not question “the fulfillment of the obligations of the Portuguese State to the European Union under the Program for Recovery and Resilience (PRR)” and that he took into account “the inherent difficulties legislative process that led to the approval of this decree.”