Doctors consider government salary scale unacceptable and put forward a counterproposal

This Saturday, doctors considered the salary scale proposal presented by the Ministry of Health unacceptable and will present a counter-proposal at a meeting on Tuesday, the president of the National Federation of Doctors told Lusa.

“We are going to introduce a salary grid in which the salary update will apply to all doctors and will not be discretionary,” like “the last salary grid they gave us,” said Joana Bordalo e Sa, president of the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam ), at the final meeting of the National Council, which brought together about 30 members of three doctors’ unions.

According to Joana Bordalo e Sa, “worse than being significantly below” what the professionals demanded for salary updates is to have a “totally discretionary grid” in which, for example, “older doctors (…) of whom still a lot in the National Health Service [SNS] they will have a lower renewal rate than others, even younger ones who work 40-hour doctors.”

At the meeting this Saturday, experts analyzed the decree-law on the regulation of joint responsibility centers and the decree that proposes to regulate family health units (USF).

“We will present a counterproposal on Tuesday. Fnam is leaving pending the remaining measures, which it claims relate to working conditions, because for Fnam it has never been just a matter of wages,” he stressed.

Joana Bordalo e Sa insisted that the trade union structure support the proposal to replace the 35-hour workday per week and 12 hours of emergency care, “since doctors have to manage operations and consultations and cannot be there for almost half the weekly time.” working hours when providing emergency assistance.”

Another requirement, he said, is the replacement of the seven days of vacation taken away during the Troika era.

“Let’s hope the department listens to us once and for all because what is happening in the NHS is extremely serious, with a shortage of doctors in the ambulance service from the north to the south of the country,” he warned.

The Fnam president added that “the population is falling behind” and the incidence of illness and the quality of medical services are being questioned. “When you have coronary green areas and AVC green areas closed, everything is said,” he criticized.

In case the Minister of Health tries to push the situation back to the beginning of next year, when overtime hours will start to be counted again, Joana Bordalo e Sa emphasized that “in three or four months the certain annual 150 hours will already be exceeded” in the law, so that “this problem will continue”.

Regarding the USF decree-law, which “was published unilaterally” and which will contain a regulation regulating the Index of Team Performance (IDE), also related to the administration of tests and medications, Joana Bordalo e Sá considers it perverse.

“There is a very significant premium at stake for GPs and tying it to prescribing and testing is an interference with clinical practice. It’s perverted, it’s deontologically completely reprehensible, and it’s never been approved by Fnam. We affirm that this surcharge remains as it was,” he emphasized.

A doctor specializing in oncology gave an example with a practical case: “There is a woman who had a mammogram six months ago, and everything is fine. A lump appears, she goes to her family doctor, who, I think, will undergo this “examination necessary for the patient” .

However, “then your salary will decrease.” “Is this fair, worthy? This is a perversion the likes of which we have never seen on social media,” he concluded.

Doctors’ unions and the government failed to reach an agreement on Thursday and will meet again next Tuesday. Negotiations have been ongoing for 19 months.