The rate of adherence to the hospital pharmacists’ strike, which ends on Wednesday, is about 90%, according to the union that called for the strike, which justifies this by the need to fight for the “dignity of the profession.”
“Compliance has become massive, as in other times, always above 90%,” said Henrique Reguengo, President of the National Federation of Pharmacists, to Loza, stressing that “many sites reach 100%”.
On Wednesday, hospital pharmacists went on strike for the second and final day, after also stopping for two days in October.
“This is a situation which has led pharmacists to so much rebellion and so great despondency. In fact, this is the only thing that effectively explains it.” The first strike in 30 years They have a membership of this kind.”
The official said these professionals hope the government will show “openness to negotiation” and “recognize that something needs to be done to change”.
“I clearly hope that tomorrow the ministry will effectively express its openness to negotiating something, and I hope above all that it will come up with proposals that take into account what has happened to pharmacists in the last 30 years,” he said.
Henrique Reguengo asserts that “pharmacists must be treated in a dignified manner in the National Health Service”, considering that this has not happened “for a long time”.
“We are not on strike just for better working conditions and better wages. This strike is for the dignity of the profession of pharmacists,” he explained.
The President of the SNF states that, at the moment, negotiations are taking place in the Ministry of Health with professional chapters that “have already seen their situation change over the years” and warns that “since 1999, no one has looked at the table” of pharmacists.
“Obviously, this led to more than 90% of the strike joining,” he concluded.
The official also states: “The science indicates that in the coming years, if things continue as they are, the role of the pharmacist in curative intervention in hospitals will be increasingly important, both in terms of effectiveness and cost containment.”
He insisted that “it is inconceivable to conceive of the National Health Service in ten years functioning as it should, with acceptable profitability, without the obvious involvement of pharmacists”.
NHS pharmacists are required to review salary scales, going back to 1999, and full length of service for career progression.
The strike includes all health services affiliated to the Ministries of Health, Labor, Solidarity, Social Security and National Defense, as well as in the Azores and Madeira.
The Federation requires, in addition to the professional assessment and full calculation of the time of service in the SNS for the purposes of promotion and career advancement, the effective obligation of pharmacists to work in the public service with unstable contracts and the sufficiency of the number of professionals for real needs and the complexity of advanced activities.
Prior to the prior notification of the strike, the syndicate also requests the recognition and approval, by the Ministry of Health / Central Administration of the Health System, of the specialist titles awarded by the Pharmacists Syndicate, as well as the definition and organization of a “special and transient process for the settlement of access to pharmaceutical specialty / residence by pharmacists appointed after 1 March 2020″.
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