Order of Physiotherapists says that minister showed “great availability for dialogue”

The Order of Physiotherapists gives a positive assessment of the meeting with the Minister of Health. António Lopes, president of the order, said that Ana Paula Martins showed a “great willingness to listen and to dialogue”.

“In our opinion, there was a great understanding of the problems that we face and especially those of users.”

Speaking to the Lusa agency at the end of the meeting, António Lopes said that, in addition to offering greetings to the new ministerial team, the Order of Physiotherapists was “to note a set of topics that have to do, above all, with the difficulty of accessing users of physiotherapy”.

The president of the Order of Physiotherapists also spoke about the problems the sector faces and potential solutions.

One of the issues highlighted by António Lopes as essential is related to “the possibility of being referred to physiotherapy by any doctor, particularly in terms of the possibility of intervention not only in the area of ​​rehabilitation, but also in the area of ​​primary health care, health promotion and disease prevention”.

The president also highlighted the challenges raised by the fact that the country’s population is increasingly aging.

“There is a set of chronic, evolving diseases that require continuous care and, therefore, the physiotherapist must also provide more systematic, more prolonged, more educational provision, not only of direct intervention, but of improving living conditions and people’s quality of life”, he argued.

Also at the meeting the need for more physiotherapists in the National Health Service (SNS), with the chairman presenting European statistics, which indicate an average need of over 130 physiotherapists per 100,000 inhabitants.

“Portugal is a little above 110 at the country level, but in the National Health Service we are very much below, there are only 1,500 physiotherapists integrated into the National Health Service, while we are 12,000 registered in the Order and every year around 1000 more graduate physiotherapists”, he explained.

For António Lopes, these numbers demonstrate that there is “a waste of qualified labor that is not being properly integrated into services”.

According to the president, the Minister of Health “showed herself to be very knowledgeable about reality” and expressed “a great openness” to dialogue.

“For us, the dialogue was very interesting, because we didn’t have to explain the situation, we analyzed the contours of the situation itself and the possible solutions and possible approaches to the problems”, he commented.

António Lopes says that the minister’s response to the proposals made by the order will, in principle, be given at the beginning of June.