The National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) today accused the government of wanting to pay overtime at the price of normal work, with no maximum limits until the end of the year, compromising patient safety.
In astatement, on which Lusa asked the Ministry of Health for a reaction, Fnam accuses the Ministry of Health of having presented it today with a proposal for a decree-law that “intends to pay doctors overtime at the rate of normal work, with no maximum limits until the end of the year”.
According to Fnam, the proposal, presented at a remote meeting which was called “in haste” on Friday night by the government, “once again violates the rules of collective bargaining” and “jeopardizes patient safety, condemning doctors to exhaustion”.
Fnam claims that the draft diploma will be taken to the Council of Ministers on Thursday without having been negotiated with the unions and is classified “in an erroneous way” as an appreciation of the performance of overtime work, once the legal annual limit has been reached – 150 hours or 250 hours in the case of fully dedicated doctors.
“(…) In fact, this work will now be paid at the rate of normal work, associated with a ‘reward’ only if blocks of 40 hours of overtime are reached,” says the statement, released after Fnam called on doctors on Saturday not to work more than 150 hours of overtime a year, or 250 if they are fully dedicated.
The union is threatening a new general strike and a stoppage of overtime in health centers, on dates to be set, if the negotiating protocol with the government “does not include some of the solutions that Fnam advocates” for more doctors in the National Health Service.
