The association’s president, Joao Vale Lusa, said that the association ended its rounds by all parliamentary blocs on Wednesday, after it was received this month by the President of the Republic, who requested a quick issuance of the diploma.
The official explained that “the negotiations were scheduled to start in the second half of September and were postponed with the change in the Health Authority.” Work was done in the previous legislature, but then the government fell.”
Joao Vale said that in the previous legislature, the working group heard “many entities, professional bodies, unions, the Portuguese Association of Hospital Directors and other entities. And this work is being used, not disposed of.”
“I am convinced that what is lacking is always getting the hard part of proper pay scales for those who are actually going to enter the profession,” he said.
Joao Vale said a meeting has already been requested with the new team from the Ministry of Health, which is awaiting a response.
APTAS intends that the establishment of the Assistant Health Technician profession be designated as technical assistant positions and that it does not fall within the scope of the category of operational assistants.
“Since we are part of a non-existent category, of operational assistants, and in general jobs, the person who works in the hospital workshop is also an operational assistant,” he explained, stressing that these technicians want to integrate into private jobs. Health professions – such as doctors and nurses – were as they were until 2008, the year they transitioned to public state jobs.
The head of the association admitted the possibility of “the temporary entry of these assistants”, stressing that “the Prime Minister was very clear when he said, [a propósito] Create an assistant health technician, which will enter only people and professionals who have been working directly with users and patients.”
At the end of June, in a parliamentary debate, the Prime Minister, Antonio Costa, confirmed that the creation of a profession as an assistant health technician is stipulated in the state budget for 2022.
Joao Weil also noted that these health professionals – which in the National Health Service (SNS) number about 28,000 – were “the group most affected by COVID-19”, mainly due to a lack of training.
“A lot of people, at this point, were unemployed, they were recruited to perform tasks without the slightest training. And we want people to enter this profession with the right training and certification, it is a task of great responsibility,” he said.
In addition to the approximately 28,000 people who work in the SNS, there are also those who work in the private and social sectors, totaling about 150,000 in the entire health system.
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