Last Friday, the Liberal Initiative (IL) asked the President of the Republic for an urgent hearing to analyze the “huge decline” of the National Health Service (SNS), aggravated by the recent problems in the emergency rooms of several hospitals.
“I hereby request Your Excellency to hold an urgent hearing to analyze the state of enormous degradation in which the National Health Service (SNS) finds itself, which raises the most serious concerns of IL regarding the health and well-being of the Portuguese,” refers to the letter that Rui Rocha sent to Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and to which the Lusa agency had access.
The IL leader adds that his concerns are related to the latest “public information reporting on the closure of several emergency services in various medical and hospital units,” claiming that these difficulties “represent a new obstacle to access to health care for the population. “.
“In addition to this pre-rupture scenario, there are long waiting lists for consultations and operations, the fact that more than 1,600,000 Portuguese are not assigned a general practitioner according to the SNS Transparency Portal, and the successive disruptions in the functioning of health centers,” the text said.
According to Rui Rocha, these factors lead to “thousands of users having to stand in endless lines early in the morning”, in various locations around the country, to obtain a password that will allow them to schedule an appointment.
“The situations mentioned above have been closely monitored by deputies and leaders of the Liberal Initiative and I myself have witnessed ‘on the ground’ in four different months the desperate scenario faced by users of Algueirão-Mem Martins (municipality of Sintra) every month” , Rui Rocha also emphasizes in the letter, to whom the “government has already provided clear evidence that it is unable to provide the answer” that the Portuguese need in the field of health.
In recent weeks, some hospitals in the country have encountered difficulties in guaranteeing full team schedules, especially for emergency services, as several doctors refuse to work more than the 150 annual overtime hours provided for by law.
In an investigation carried out this week on the issuance of minutes refusing overtime, the National Federation of Doctors (Fnam) stressed that the situation is causing closures and restrictions in emergency services, but also on the scale of other hospital services.
According to the FNAM, around 2,000 doctors have already refused to work more overtime than legally stipulated.
Source: DN
