Em a statement to the agency Lusa, the head of OM, Carlos Cortes, indicated that this working group has taken ‘the first steps’ in a meeting between national leaders and sub-regional councils of the Order, held today in Évora.
“We want to present a very concrete response” and, in this meeting, some ideas were already presented, “ranging from financial and working conditions to connections with the community, for example, with higher education institutions”, he added.
Declining to detail the proposals for now, Carlos Cortes mentioned that the working group is coordinated by the president of the Vila Real Sub-Regional Council of OM, Fernando Salvador, and formed by doctors appointed by each sub-regional council.
“We hope to have the document completed roughly by the end of the year, so we can present it to the political power, the Government, and in the Assembly of the Republic, in January” 2026, he emphasized.
The head referred to Évora, where this meeting took place, as well as Beja and Portalegre, also in Alentejo, to exemplify areas facing a shortage of clinicians and where “many medical specialties are being lost.”
“We do not want to have all specialties in all areas of the country, it is not possible,” but there must be “a good referral network of the various specialties” and “a response basis that can treat patients, at least initially,” he said.
Currently, according to Carlos Cortes, “neither in primary healthcare nor in hospital care is this happening.”
Therefore, he argued, “there must be a national response policy for these areas” lacking doctors, considering that “the incentives being developed are not incentives that can attract doctors.”
“There has to be another policy, involving remunerative conditions and the family structure of the doctor so that they can have a response for their children and spouse, a set of connections, for example, to develop their training activity and contact with higher education entities,” he added.
In statements to Lusa, the head of OM revealed that, in this meeting in Évora, a negative assessment and “enormous concern” about health in Portugal was made.
According to Carlos Cortes, the Order will also present, in the coming weeks, to the Government and parliamentary groups a set of 20 measures to “help overcome problems” in the sector and a proposal for the new medical career.
