Problems in the emergency room like last year? “The scenario is already repeating itself” | Interview

The Independent Doctors Union (SIM) meets this Friday with the Minister of Health, Ana Paula Martins. The newly elected general secretary Nuno Rodrigues participated in the negotiations with the previous executive and it is the specifications that were not fulfilled that led to the negotiations. He wants to see improvements in working conditions, such as a reduction in weekly hours dedicated to emergencies and career progression to avoid scenarios, which continue to occur, of closed emergencies. In an interview with PÚBLICO, he states that the reform of Local Health Units (ULS) — which brought together health centers and hospitals under the same administration — must be evaluated, but there must not be a retreat. He states that the SNS’s response capacity is not yet exhausted and that it is possible to provide more access to users. As for the Government’s promise to provide a timely response in primary health care, he says it makes sense. But he emphasizes: being “a family doctor does not mean giving one consultation a year”.