Agreeing on a temporary increase in 2024 is not enough to stop health protests
The ministry is “finalizing the conditions for activating” the agreement with SIM.
Edgar Nascimento 01:30
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Health professionals
The agreement between the government and the Independent Doctors Syndicate, on a temporary increase in 2024, is not enough to stop the protests. The National Doctors’ Union was excluded from the agreement, which it deemed “bad for doctors, and bad for the NHS, because it would not allow doctors to remain in the NHS”. FNAM asked doctors to continue to refuse more than mandatory overtime, and guaranteed that it would free up minutes for those who want to refuse full dedication.
The Doctors in Combat movement considers the agreement discriminatory and is questioning professionals to find out how many intend to keep the overtime excuse. According to Susana Costa, 25% of the 2,800 minutes provided by doctors will have an impact in December. “The movement has decided to consult all doctors, in the form of a questionnaire, to understand what the SNS will look like from December onwards.” As of January 1, the overtime “counter” is reset, so doctors will have to work the additional hours required by law (maximum 150 hours per year). The agreement between SIM and the Ministry of Health stipulates increases ranging between 3.09% and 21.53%, which translate into increases ranging from 94.81 euros to 527.78 euros, according to the table published by SIM. Jorge Roque da Cunha, Secretary General of the union, which has 7,000 members, says that the increases are intended for doctors working on public service contracts, and in other cases, such as those with individual employment contracts, only union members will benefit from them. Yes. questioned before poisonThe Ministry of Health stated that it is “finalizing the concrete conditions for activating the agreement, which will be implemented on January 1, 2024.”
Nurses want to negotiate
The National Union of Nurses (SNE) believes that the interim agreement between the government and doctors has highlighted salary inequality between nurses and other private professions in the SNE. The SNE accuses the government of being “completely unprepared to negotiate and reach an agreement with nurses.”
The agreement between the government and the Independent Doctors Syndicate, on a temporary increase in 2024, is not enough to stop the protests. The National Doctors’ Union was excluded from the agreement, which it deemed “bad for doctors, and bad for the NHS, because it would not allow doctors to remain in the NHS”.
