There are almost 40 hospitals in the country where about 90% of services are unavailable.

In a total of 38 hospital departments, about 90% of services are unavailable because there are not enough doctors to cover shifts, according to the latest data released by Doctors in Action.

In a conversation with the Lusa agency, the representative of the Médicos em Luta movement, Susana Costa, said that the list is updated almost every day, and information about the impact on hospitals is provided by doctors.

“(…) In a service where 20 doctors work overtime, if 50% of these doctors are called up [de indisponibilidade para horário suplementar], the impact we’ll have on the teams is related to the amount of overtime those doctors have to work. If they only make six or 12 [horas] per week has one effect, and if they work overtime 24 hours a week, then there is another,” stressed Susana Costa.

Despite this, he stressed that “those who know exactly these numbers and (…) the impact” that these justifications have on services are the administrations.

The online list is broken down by hospital departments and specialties that have been hit the hardest.

According to Doctors in Action, Garcia de Orta (Almada), Amadora – Sintra, Aveiro, Barcelos, Barreiro, Braga, Braganca, Castelo Branco, Caldas da Rainha and Torres Vedras, Coimbra, Leiria, Covilhã, Évora , Famalican and Santo Tirso, Faro, Figueira da Foz, Vila Nova de Gaia, Guimarães, Guarda, Leiria, Central Hospital Center of Lisbon, Santa Maria (Lisbon), San Francisco Javier (Lisbon), Beatriz Angelo – Loures, Matosinhos, Penafiel, Portalegre and Elvas, Portimão, São João (Porto), Santo António (Porto), Povoa de Varzim, Santa Maria da Feira, Santarem, Setúbal, Viana do -Castelo and Ponte de Lima, Vila Franca de Xira, Vila Real Chaves-Lamego and Viseu will be the most affected.

So far, 19 services have been recorded in which 100% of doctors asked for excuses, such as, among others, cases in the hospital departments of Santa Maria da Feira, Orthopedics, Viana do Castelo and Ponte de Lima. , in general surgery, García de Orta, in pediatrics and neurology, Guimarães, in obstetrics, and Barcelos and Caldas da Rainha, in general surgery.

Also, 25 of the 55 ACES groups are feeling the effects of the overtime protest.

There are 15 ACES affected in the Northern zone, three in the Center and one in the Alentejo. In Lisbon, six ACES hospitals will suffer from a shortage of doctors.

The Independent Doctors’ Union (SIM) said on Wednesday that doctors and the government had not reached an agreement on pay rises but had secured progress in negotiations on other issues such as holidays and working hours in the emergency service.

Following a new round of negotiations between the Ministry of Health and SIM and the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam), which began late Wednesday afternoon and ended at midnight this Wednesday, SIM Secretary General Jorge Roque da Cunha assured that “there is a great desire to agree” on the issues salaries.

Negotiations between the Ministry of Health and SIM and Fnam began in 2022, but the lack of an agreement has intensified doctors’ struggles with strikes and claims to justify working overtime beyond the mandatory 150 hours a year, prompting restrictions and closures of emergency services in hospitals across the country.