At the National Health Convention held in Lisbon, Carlos Cortes informed journalists that freelance doctors, now officially represented through the newly established Association of Contract Doctors, have requested a meeting with the Portuguese Medical Association (OM), which is already being scheduled and is expected to take place next week.
“The meeting is being arranged to understand their demands, perspectives, and options, as service providers are doctors who perform very important work for the National Health Service (SNS),” stated the chairman.
Carlos Cortes recalled that the service provision framework was created by the government and has been expanded over the years. During the ‘Troika’ period, doctors were encouraged to forego their individual employment contracts with hospitals to become service providers.
“Over the recent years this framework has been enhanced, and instead of being used for exceptional cases or specific needs, it is currently being utilized as a norm for doctors’ permanent work,” he criticized.
When asked about the number of freelance doctors, Carlos Cortes stated that he did not have concrete data but mentioned that “a very high percentage of doctors work as service providers.”
He revealed that the OM is compiling a report on various areas of medical work, including service provision.
Preliminary data from the survey, with around 3,500 responses, indicate that between 30% and 40% of doctors have some type of service provision arrangement, with less than 500 having this as their sole contractual relationship with the SNS.
“This is a substantial number that concerns us,” said Carlos Cortes, warning that decisions made by the Ministry of Health “cannot be rushed or made impulsively,” as they could negatively impact the SNS’s response capacity.
For the chairman, it is essential to first talk with professionals and clearly understand the impact of service provision, noting that it is not limited to emergency services but also covers “highly specialized areas.”
“I choose these words carefully: If this is not handled with care, we could face a serious response incapacity issue in the SNS in the coming months,” warned Carlos Cortes.
Doctors providing services in public units established the Association of Contract Doctors on Tuesday, now awaiting meetings requested with the Ministry of Health and the OM.
In a statement released on Thursday, the freelance doctors’ movement temporarily rejected the possibility of a general emergency service strike, stating that they wish to first review the government’s proposal.
Previously, a local publication reported that a group of over a thousand contract doctors was planning an emergency services strike in response to the government’s new regulations intending to lower hourly wages.
The regulation approved by the executive at the end of October aims to standardize the payment amounts for these healthcare professionals and includes an incompatibility regime.
With this new regulation, the government hopes to minimize the pay discrepancies between doctors contracted by the SNS and those working as service providers, most of whom are hired on a task basis by hospitals to ensure emergency services.
