The Order of Physicians regrets the lack of investment in general and family medicine

This Sunday the Medical Association lamented the lack of investment over many years in general and family medicine, an area of ​​”great importance” in the NHS, where almost half of doctors are over 65.

Speaking to Lusa on the occasion of Family Physician Day, which is celebrated this Sunday, the President of the Order of Physicians (OM), Carlos Cortes, recalled the importance of general and family medicine (FGM) in health care, not only because of the activity it provides. works, but because it ultimately “frees up hospitals.”

“He has a very great influence on health care in Portugal (…) not only because of his direct activities in the fields of literacy, propaganda, prevention, humanized medicine, curative medicine and the observation of the individual, his family and community, but also because that it eases the pressure on hospitals,” he said, emphasizing that “with qualified primary health care, patients’ health problems will not get worse.”

At the beginning of May 2024, there were 9,003 doctors specializing in FGM registered with the Medical Association, the majority of whom were women (5,788). Of those registered, more than 45% (4115) are over 65 years of age and 18% are over 70 years of age.

The President emphasized that the aging of these specialists is due to the unattractiveness of their career: “poor working conditions for doctors, poor training conditions, no development of projects, in particular scientific research.”

Although he stresses that this is a union issue, the chairman recognizes the importance of “decent remuneration.”

OM figures show FGM is the specialty that has had the most unfilled vacancies in recent years, a reality the Order considers “alarming”.

In 2023, of the 617 available positions, 165 (26.7%) remained unfilled.

“Although the Order of Physicians was able to identify a number of vacancies in specialties from a training point of view, they remained abandoned, mainly (…) due to their unattractiveness,” he noted.

The President also emphasized the importance of FGM in “intimacy medicine,” noting that the specialty has “developed the most and best in recent decades.”

Since 2020, 2,704 vacancies have been opened in this specialty; the increase in the number of vacancies during this period was more than 25%. However, especially in the last two years, many of them have remained empty.

For his part, the president of the Portuguese Association of General and Family Medicine (APMGF), Nuno Jacinto, emphasized the “generation gap” of these specialists: “there are many family doctors over 60 years old and many aged 45 years and younger.”

He attributed the situation to the way entry into medical courses had been guided for many years, but agreed that the main reason was the lack of attractiveness of the National Health Service (NHS).

“Now not only CR specialists do not choose vacancies, but also colleagues at the beginning of the internship prefer not to even do the internship and do other things,” he warned.

Asked whether generalizing USF’s Model B (with additional payments for purposes) could help attract more specialists, he said what happened “was not a true generalization of what existed.”

“We have changed the rules for calculating benefits, the way they apply these indicators to compensation, and changed several things that, on the one hand, make access to these benefits more difficult, and on the other, create rules that are, at the very least, questionable,” said the person in charge. giving an example of the relationship between the compensation of all USF specialists and the administration of tests and medications.

“That means these teams can’t get to where others have been. [das ULS anteriores] and the rest risk belittling what they had (…). Ultimately, no one likes it,” he insisted.

He said “the outlook remains unattractive” and, even with the measures taken so far, believes no change is expected in relation to any empty vacancies in the next competition.