At 4:00 PM today, the public petition “Legitimação da Direção do Movimento de Prestadores de Serviço do Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS),” proposing 13 names for a board headed by Nuno Figueiredo e Sousa, was signed by 562 individuals.
“The undersigned declare that they legitimize the following board to represent service provider doctors in a meeting with the Ministry of Health, in order to discuss the situation of these professionals within the SNS,” the petition states.
In response, the Ministry of Health stated that “no meeting request has been received yet,” but did not answer whether Minister Ana Paula Martins is available to meet with the movement’s representatives.
On Wednesday, it was revealed that a group of over a thousand freelance doctors is preparing to halt emergency services once the government’s decree regulating service provision work is published.
As reported, these doctors, who are not affiliated with the National Health Service (SNS), are organized in a WhatsApp group and plan to disrupt public hospital emergency services for at least three days.
The issue at hand is the regulation of service provision work approved by the government at the end of October, aiming to standardize the fees paid to these healthcare professionals and introduce a regime of incompatibilities.
This measure aims to minimize the differences in payment between contracted SNS doctors and those working as service providers, most of whom are hired on a task basis by hospitals to ensure emergency services.
On Wednesday, the Minister of the Presidency stated that the government will maintain the planned changes, citing national consensus on the necessity to change the current situation.
“I believe the national consensus that the current regime and practices involving these service provisions are collectively a situation that should and needs to be changed and reformed has not changed,” said António Leitão Amaro, during a press conference following the Council of Ministers.
The minister also urged doctors to “maintain their spirit of service and care for the patients, which has always been demonstrated, and for which the country is deeply grateful.”
A report from July by the Public Finance Council indicated that the hiring of medical services to address the lack of specialists in local health units (ULS) experienced a 3.6% increase in total contracted hours in 2024, with an expenditure of almost 230 million euros, 11.7% more than in 2023.
