“I heard from the news that there will be participation in the strike from two unions, one for doctors and another for nurses, and we will naturally do what is also provided by law,” that is, “ensure minimum services,” stated the minister.
While acknowledging the impact of previous strikes, the minister indicated that “minimum services” have been ensured, commending the cooperation of healthcare professionals.
“We managed to maintain the minimum services and we managed to negotiate and people collaborate. Healthcare professionals have a lot of civic awareness, and we see that in situations of pandemics, catastrophes, accidents, [or] blackouts, in the most disruptive scenarios, healthcare professionals, when called upon, never fail,” she emphasized.
Ana Paula Martins was speaking to journalists on the sidelines of a visit to the Hospital do Litoral Alentejano (HLA) in Santiago do Cacém, Setúbal district.
However, according to the health minister, in a strike “of this magnitude,” “scheduled situations,” such as surgeries and consultations, “are affected.”
The Portuguese Nurses’ Union (SEP) announced today in a statement their participation in the general strike, a day after the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) unanimously approved, during a congress, a motion to join this walkout.
When asked whether the strike implies a sign of failure in making the profession more attractive, Ana Paula Martins assured that she is “working tirelessly with the unions” with which the government maintains agreements.
“We are currently almost at the final stages with Senior Health Technicians, Diagnostic and Therapeutic Technicians, Hospital Administrators and [working on] the collective agreement with nurses and also some improvements within the scope of agreements we made with the other professions,” she highlighted.
She added that the government will not “give up on continuing to dialogue with the unions and professionals to respond to these challenges, which are human resources.”
The general strike was announced on the 8th by the CGTP Secretary-General, Tiago Oliveira, at the end of the national march against the labor package, which drew thousands of workers down Avenida da Liberdade in Lisbon, in protest against the proposed changes by Luís Montenegro’s government.
On Thursday, the UGT unanimously approved the decision to advance in convergence with the CGTP, thus including the favorable vote of the Social-Democratic Workers (TSD).
Asked to comment on Eurostat data revealing that Portugal is one of the EU countries where it takes the longest to reach a hospital, the minister, who is touring Local Health Units across the country to prepare the NHS for the winter period, pointed out the importance of “integration and coordination of care.”
“Health will not be compromised if we have what we see here [at the HLA], which is the integration and coordination of care, bringing people closer to hospitals when they need them through proximity care,” whether “via digital means, team mobility, and care coordination,” she considered.
