The National Federation of Doctors said it would be “difficult” to reach an agreement with the government

The president of the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) said on Tuesday it would be “difficult” to reach an agreement with the government at a meeting on Thursday, saying doctors had become accustomed to distrusting the health minister.

“It will be hard [conseguir um acordo], because we don’t have the documents yet. Again, we still don’t have the documents. There are exactly 48 hours left before the meeting, and we still haven’t received anything,” Joana Bordalo e Sa told reporters.

However, the Fnam president noted that if proposals are submitted “in time” before the meeting, this could “be the beginning of a future agreement.”

“The proposal presented to us [na semana passada] it was just a projection. This was a sign, an opening, but we must see the implementation of these proposals on paper. (…) We need to see this discovery in the documents, formulated as it should be, and which meets the requirements and decisions that doctors in the National Health Service (NHS) should have,” he stressed.

“We are already accustomed, in the end, to not trust the words of the Minister of Health [Manuel Pizarro]. We need to look at these documents and see if they actually include the solutions that Fnam proposes for SNS, and then ultimately we can reach an agreement in the future,” he said.

This Tuesday, about three hundred doctors demonstrated at the Ministry of Health in Lisbon in defense of medical careers and the National Health Service.

The demonstration took place on the first of two days of strike called by Fnam and five days after unions met with the Health Ministry and a new round of negotiations was scheduled for Thursday.

At the scene, CGTP-IN Secretary General Isabelle Camarinha said the strike was a response to a government that “does not make enough proposals.”

“From the point of view of general policy and the state budget proposal itself [para 2024], does not guarantee the required answer. (…) It is a matter of choice that the government has. And the government’s option is not to guarantee the strengthening and protection of public, universal and free social networks, as it should be,” the leader of the trade union center emphasized.

The General Secretary of the PKP also said that doctors need to be respected and created conditions for their work, noting that this is a “very fair demand.”

“They’re defending their rights, but they’re also defending SNS. (…) If they are respected, if they are valued, if they are able to work, doctors will definitely choose SNS, they will wear the SNS shirt. “This spirit of mission – dedication – is so important that it is what allows SNS to continue to function,” said Paulo Raimundo.

Bloco de Esquerda (BE) coordinator Mariana Mortagua said doctors are “present to defend” SNS and that they “have reason to be outraged.”

“For a year and a half they tried to negotiate with the government, the government never sent a written proposal. They do not have a written proposal with the government’s position on this issue, and so far we know that the government understands that the SNA has to be supported by overtime, (…) four months of overtime on the part of these professionals. These professionals here are saying they can’t take it anymore,” he said.

According to Fnam, commitment to the doctors’ strike is around 85%.

Doctors’ dissatisfaction was expressed through strikes and the submission of draft declarations by about 2,500 doctors for exemption from overtime work in addition to the mandatory 150 hours per year, which caused restrictions on emergency services in several of the Service’s hospitals. National health care.

In a proposal presented to unions on Thursday, the Ministry of Health includes a 500-euro-a-month bonus for doctors providing emergency care and the option to choose 35 hours a week.