Doctors are back on strike today against the government’s proposal to enhance their careers, a two-day strike that the union federation guarantees will not affect assistance to World Youth Day pilgrims.
“We expect membership to be high, given the level of discontent. The result of the last meeting [with the Ministry of Health] created an even greater wave of discontent,” the president of the National Federation of Doctors (FNAM) told Lusa.
The strike today and Wednesday coincides with World Youth Day (WYD), taking place in Lisbon, but Joana Bordalo e Sá assured that hospital emergency rooms are covered by the minimum services.
“In hospital terms, whoever is scheduled to do an emergency will do it, because it is a minimum service and is completely safeguarded. It was never our intention to harm JMJ in any way”, the union leader stressed.
At stake is the “totally unacceptable proposal” that the Government presented last week to the unions, as part of the negotiations that began in 2022, and which “does not contemplate” the salary appreciation applied transversally to all doctors, said Joana Bordalo e Sá.
The FNAM rejects the maintenance of the 40-hour working week and the increase in the overtime limit from the current 150 to 300 per year, the “derisory” increase in the basic salary of between 0.4% and 1.6%, the maintenance of the 18-hour emergency and the rules for the new full dedication regime.
In its counter-proposal, which will be delivered today during a rally at the ministry, the federation demands increases that compensate for the loss of purchasing power of doctors in the last decade, a 35-hour weekly schedule, the restoration of 12 hours in emergency service and the increased regime of exclusive dedication and the integration of interns in the first degree of the career.
The Ministry of Health has already stated that doctors who join the full dedication will have a 35-hour working week, plus an additional five hours of work per week, and a salary increase corresponding to two levels of remuneration, plus a 20% supplement provided for in this new regime.
In primary health care, the Government’s proposal provides for an increase in remuneration of up to 10% for doctors already integrated in Family Health Units (USF) model B and an increase of about 60% for doctors of USF model A or Personalized Health Care Units (UCSP) that transition to model B.
