The vice-president of the Observatório de Violência Obstétrica em Portugal (OVO PT), Lígia Morais, announced that an appeal is being made for all citizens, users, healthcare professionals, and human rights defenders to join the CGTP protest under the slogan “Todos a Lisboa,” scheduled to begin at 2:30 PM on Saturday.
“I believe it will be necessary for us to gather in greater numbers in the streets for people to understand the need for this unity,” stated Lígia Morais.
OVO PT expressed “deep concern” over a series of measures announced by the Government that, under the guise of “reorganization” and “fundamental reforms” in healthcare, result in blind cuts and the devaluation of professionals, leading to a tangible dismantling of maternal health services and the National Health Service (SNS) itself.
The organization criticizes the new model of Regional Urgencies, describing it as the “covert closure” of services, which will compromise “the accessibility and safety of pregnant women in labor, increasing travel time in emergencies and leading to more unattended births at home, in public, or in ambulances.”
OVO questions how it is acceptable for deliveries to be handled by emergency medical teams, thereby normalizing roadside births by non-specialists, when a hospital emergency service cannot be open without a specialist doctor.
It is viewed as “an inconsistency that reflects the deliberate way the Government avoids investing in health professionals’ salaries or building specialized teams to ensure the proper functioning of the system.”
OVO also criticizes the paradoxical handling of freelance doctors.
“The mandate to cut expenses aims to reduce costs with these providers, but the proposals for regional urgencies promote the ‘forced mobility’ of SNS permanent professionals, covering travel costs only through allowances instead of the promised incentive supplement,” it notes.
OVO warns that this “devaluation” and “pressure” on health professionals only exacerbates their departure from the SNS, perpetuating reliance on expensive freelancers and consequently increasing the risk of disorganization and exhaustion in Obstetric services, now potentially facing a strike.
Simultaneously, the Government “sacrifices hospital administration boards,” fostering “greater instability in services and once again normalizing the successive failures of government health policies.”
OVO PT denounces these policies, asserting that they penalize users and all health professionals instead of protecting and strengthening the SNS, thereby compromising safety and quality during childbirth and the overall SNS.
“It’s time to demand sustainable investments, dignified working conditions, and an SNS that guarantees the right to be born and give birth with safety and dignity,” the statement declares.
