“We will continue to fiercely and uncompromisingly defend the rights of doctors, but also the National Health Service (SNS), as we are living in times of great concern for the future. We believe there is a degradation of the SNS, a practical result of the incompetence of various ministries, especially the most recent one,” stated Joana Bordalo e Sá.
Speaking on the day she begins her second term at the Sindicato dos Médicos do Norte (SMN), the oncologist who has also led the Federação Nacional dos Médicos (FNAM) since December 2022, said she will move forward into the 2025/2028 term with a “renewed” leadership, incorporating “very young doctors as well as more experienced ones.”
“We managed to bring young people into our leadership. For the first time, we have trainee doctors,” she noted.
List A, with the slogan “For the Defense of All Doctors,” was re-elected with 91.37% of the votes.
Joana Bordalo e Sá led a single ticket in the first-ever electronic voting election in the history of SMN.
“The electronic voting countered the participation trend observed over the last two decades since people were becoming less involved, and this time participation was more expressive. This is also a direct reflection of the union’s growth, which doubled its membership in the last term. This shows that doctors have confidence in a leadership that is more combative, plural, and independent,” she pointed out.
Joana Bordalo e Sá expressed her willingness to return to the negotiating table with the next Ministry of Health, hoping it will possess “more competence.”
“We believe things must be different. The next Minister of Health must understand healthcare and strive to bolster the SNS workforce, including doctors. Presenting productivity metrics, waiting list figures, and numbers that sometimes seem contrived won’t solve the patients’ issues,” she remarked.
For the SMN and FNAM leader, the “quality metrics announced in the Emergency and Health Transformation Plan of the last Health Ministry are not real,” with the plan being described by the director of the Portuguese Oncology Institute of Porto as “a political propaganda maneuver by Ana Paula Martins.”
“We are working with very reduced teams, with doctors and professionals required to cover several emergency shifts weekly, exhausted, and this increases the risk in the observation, treatment, and follow-up of patients. It is distressing to witness all this and see the top officials of the country doing nothing,” she added.
In a statement, the SMN — one of the three unions part of FNAM, along with the Central and South zones — mentions that the new leadership has a “clear” agenda: “To uncompromisingly defend the rights of doctors and fight for a public, universal, accessible, and high-quality SNS.”
“The new governing bodies will initiate a new cycle of union action focused on valuing the medical career and demanding dignified working conditions for all doctors, specialists, and trainees, regardless of their professional area or place of work (…). The emphasis on proximity, local action, and firm defense of the medical profession will continue to guide the union at both regional and national and international levels. The fight for the dignity of doctors and the survival of the SNS will not stop,” it concludes.
The inauguration is scheduled for 18:00.
