The president of the National Federation of Doctors, Joana Bordalo Sá, stated today that there is an “enormous inflexibility on the part of the government and Luís Montenegro in negotiating working conditions.” As a result, she claims, “we have four doctors leaving the National Health Service (SNS) every day.”
In an interview with SIC Notícias, the spokesperson for the Portuguese doctors initially stated that there is “very high participation” in the general strike, although “the minimum services are being fulfilled.”
“Above all, the doctors are saying that the labor package will affect the lives of doctors and more doctors will leave the SNS,” declared Joana Bordalo Sá, explaining the reason health professionals decided to protest today, arguing that doctors “want to stay in the SNS but not under these conditions.”
“We have four doctors per day leaving the SNS,” she reiterated, placing the blame solely on “Luís Montenegro and his government.”
“With this kind of inflexibility, even more will leave,” she warned.
“We are closing in 2025 with a massive shortage of doctors, emergency services closed, few family doctors, services shut down… If this path continues, we are witnessing the destruction of the SNS,” lamented this official, noting simultaneously that private entities are announcing investments “in the billions of euros.”
[News in update]
