The news released this Wednesday morning, the 5th, that there is a group of working doctors willing to stop the country’s emergency rooms as a protest against the approval of the diploma that regulates their activity without any negotiation surprised some. The announcement was made through the newspaper Público, in its edition of the same day, where it was also explained that the decision to fight this way had been taken by a group of working doctors, recently created through WhatsApp, which already brings together more than a thousand professionals, as they feel “ostracized” and “excluded from decisions”.
A protest that, if it happens, will be unprecedented and similar to what happened two years ago, with the creation of the Movement of Doctors in Struggle, which called on colleagues to “not work even one more hour of overtime, in addition to legal hours”, and which also had a strong impact on emergencies. As doctors on duty do not have any connection to the National Health Service (SNS) units that hire them – many of them are even hired through companies that provide services for the health sector – all they have to do is say that they are not available to work.
Those on the ground know that if these doctors go ahead with such a protest, “the majority of emergencies in the country could stop”, since, nowadays, and according to official data, there are already more than four thousand of these doctors and they mainly ensure shifts in emergency services, although there are also specialists carrying out consultations and even surgeries.
For this reason, and in statements to DN, the president of the doctors, Carlos Cortes, asks anyone who is willing to take part in a protest of this nature not to miss “the notion of medical commitment, which is to save lives”, although he understands “the reason for the protest”.
And this lies in the approval of the diploma that intends to regulate the activity of providing medical services, that is, of working doctors, which was approved at the Council of Ministers (CM) meeting on October 22nd.
A diploma that, according to these doctors, was approved without being discussed with those who are performing such functions in the field and even without making it known to the unions themselves in “full”. As the president of the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam), Joana Bordalo e Sá, had previously confirmed to DN: “We only had access to excerpts of the diploma”.
And 15 days after its approval, although it is not yet known when it will come into force, this group of doctors comes to say that they are prepared to defend, “without fear or hesitation”, the valorization of workers. “Successive Ministries of Health have treated us like second-class doctors, ignoring the value, sacrifice and dedication of those who provide the front line of hospital emergencies”, they contest.
Although the content of the diploma is not known, at the time of its approval it was mentioned that some of the rules, such as remuneration tables, would be changed, differentiating specialist doctors from doctors without specialties, also ensuring that these do not exceed the remuneration of doctors on SNS staff. And also defining that anyone who leaves the public service cannot later become a regular doctor, as was already the case until now.
To DN, the doctors’ president emphasizes that “the co“I don’t think anyone has any doubts about this and it has to be clear”, but he agrees that there are “situations that need to be clarified and regulated, namely the big difference in the way the NHS deals with its staff and how it deals with its staff doctors”.
Carlos Cortes also says he understands the reason behind the dissatisfaction of working doctors. However, as president, he says he has to alert his peers to “the scale and consequences that a protest in the emergency room could have, if this were to happen”, remembering: “Our commitment as doctors is to defend the patient and save lives”. A principle that also integrates the “main mission of the Order”, which “is to defend patients, healthcare and the NHS”.
More. For Carlos Cortes, “this is the principle that we can never forget”, because it also integrates “an ethical-ideological issue”. Therefore, if there is a protest of this nature, “it is a protest from which the Medical Association has, in some way, to distance itself. Emergency services are extremely sensitive.”
However, he also reinforces that in this entire process “there is something that bothers me substantially, which is that the diploma was prepared without any dialogue, because during the last few years the doctors on duty were absolutely necessary to ensure the SNS. And now? They are no longer useful? It cannot be like that”.
The president emphasizes that “in labor matters the Order does not interfere, but it must recognize that this negotiation was not well conducted”.
During the afternoon of this Wednesday, the minister of the presidency, Leitão Amaro, during the briefing of the Council of Ministers, acknowledged that the Government realized that there were people who did not accept the rules contained in the diploma on the regulation of the activity of providing services, but appealed to doctors who are willing to move forward with a protest in the emergency room to “maintain the spirit of service to users”.
The DN tried during the day to contact some of the doctors who are part of this group, but it has not been possible so far.