Expectant doctors in negotiations despite the majority having overtime – Society

The majority of emergency room doctors at district hospitals have already exceeded the annual overtime limit, but the Doctors in Struggle movement is awaiting negotiations between the Government and unions, its spokesperson said this Monday.

“We know that, as of the end of March, there are already many doctors who have worked more than 150 overtime hours”, said Susana Costa to the Lusa agency, highlighting that the movement remains vigilant in relation to the negotiations that have begun between the Ministry of Health and union structures last week.

For now, doctors do not foresee “starting a new fight” like the one they developed in 2023, since they are “believing that there is, in fact, a commitment on the part of the guardianship to resolve the problems of the National Health Service (SNS), that begin with the retention” of these professionals, he said.

According to Susana Costa, last year’s “extreme position” was due to the way in which the “almost two years” negotiations with the previous Government were taking place.

Now, the Médicos em Luta movement is “expecting that there will actually be good faith and real commitment to resolving” aspects that it considers fundamental for the permanence of doctors in the SNS and that “are not just related to salaries”.

Susana Costa also listed the regularization of working hours to 35 hours, the reduction to 12 hours per week for emergency room doctors, the beginning of their career in the first year of internship for intern doctors, in addition to other “aspects that are related in a very important way with career progression”.

According to the spokesperson, the “vast majority of doctors” who work in emergencies, in most district hospitals, “have already completed their overtime hours” scheduled for this year, as they are working at least 12 overtime per week.

“In central hospitals, and because the services are larger in terms of number of elements, emergencies do not require as many overtime hours. These are hospitals where doctors take longer to complete this number”, he said.

Although there has not yet been a “need to initiate any movement to demand” this year, some doctors submitted a draft of their unavailability to work more than 150 overtime hours in January, said Susana Costa.

At the end of 2023, thousands of doctors formally expressed their unavailability to work more than the 150 hours per year stipulated by legislation, which created constraints in the functioning of dozens of hospitals across the country.