Hundreds of protesters, this Saturday, are calling for the abolition of a government standard included in the state’s 2022 budget that allows non-specialist doctors to be appointed to health centers – a standard they see as a direct attack on the specialty of general and family medicine. . Some protesters also demanded the immediate resignation of Health Minister Marta Temido.
One of the posters reads “Marta Temedo without forgiveness asks to resign”, which also indicates a case of “National Health Service mourning” (SNS).
The President of the Portuguese Society of General and Family Medicine (APMGF), Nuno Jacinto, shortly after speaking to the protesters, was received by Minister Marta Temedo, who is at the Ministry of Health this afternoon.
The head of the Medical Syndicate considered the government’s performance “totally unacceptable” with regard to specialists in general and family medicine and demanded better conditions to secure these professionals in the National Health Service (SNS).
Miguel Guimarães conveyed these positions in statements he made to reporters, during a gathering of about two hundred family doctors at the Ministry of Health, in protest against the government’s measure allowing the employment of non-specialized doctors in health centers.
“This situation is totally unacceptable, but I am here first of all to support patients. Citizens and users do not deserve from the Ministry of Health to show them the path of a doctor without a specialty, when there are specialist doctors in Portugal,” told reporters the president of Ordem dosa Médicos.
According to Miguel Guimarães, more than 500 specialists in general family medicine are trained each year and about 1,700 doctors specializing in this specialty are trained outside the National Health Service (SNS).
He noted, “First, objective conditions must be created so that young professionals can continue to work in the SNS. They are choosing the SNS, rather than the private sector or traveling abroad. The vacancies were again vacant,” he noted.
For the President of Ordem dos Médicos, in order to respond to the shortcomings in the coverage of the primary health care network, “it is necessary to create more family health units, Form B, and many others.”
He added, “If necessary, the development of Family Health Units of Model (C) needs to be organized. In practice, this means that the state appoints specialists in general and family medicine to attract user lists.”
Also, according to Miguel Guimarães, the state should hire doctors who are about to retire, or who have already retired, giving them a greater appreciation for their work so that they can strengthen the social communication system.”
After these statements, Miguel Guimarães gave a brief speech to the demonstrators in which he criticized the recent statements of the Minister of State for Health, Lacerda Sales, regarding the alleged presence in Portugal of “family doctors without specialties”.
When the name Lacerda Sales was pronounced, a long whistle was heard.
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