The President of the Republic promulgated this Tuesday, with “numerous doubts and reluctance”, the diplomas approving full commitment to the SNS, the organization and functioning of Family Health Units and the creation of Local Health Units.
In a note published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic, the Head of State, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, states that “the two National Health Service diplomas [SNS] sent for promulgation by the government raise numerous doubts and reluctance, in addition to the more or less intense opposition from professionals in the sector.”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa lists the doubts, starting by mentioning diplomas “appear after, and not before, the government has regulated by regulation the public institution intended to manage the SNS”noting that the executive management of the SNS “it only begins to know its legal status more than a year after the announcement”.
Regarding the decree approving the legal regime of full dedication in the National Health Service and the organization and functioning of Family Health Units (USF), he criticizes that the diploma “combines the issue of administrative organization with two others that require an autonomous treatment: the regime of so-called full dedication and the regime of overtime”.
“This solution, which is apparently cyclical, ultimately limits and weakens the specific treatment of these cases,” emphasizes Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, since “the organizational component also loses if the process is followed on a case-by-case basis.”
After presenting these arguments, the Head of State states that “it may be that a door, even a narrow one, opens in the service and reward regimes”.
Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa considers it “urgent to make up for more than a lost year” until the statutes of the SNS management are approved, explaining that, despite doubts, he is awarding the two diplomas in order “not to act as a brake”.
The possible presidential veto “would only delay what has already been postponed, with a possible appeal by the government to the Assembly of the Republic” to overcome the veto, the head of state concluded.
Instituted diploma that creates psychological support for victims of sexual harassment in higher education
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, on Tuesday promulgated the decree creating psychological support measures for victims of harassment and sexual violence in higher education.
The diploma continues to expand “the scope of the application of codes of good conduct to prevent and combat harassment of all members of the academic community”said a statement published on Tuesday on the official website of the Presidency of the Republic.
The diploma is the result of a Livre bill approved in parliament, which stipulates that victims must receive psychological and psychotherapeutic support. “using individual or group intervention methodologies and based on specialized approaches, such as psychotherapeutic approaches to trauma, positive therapy or cognitive behavioral therapy”.
Behind this were proposals such as Chega or Bloco de Esquerda, which defended changes to the Criminal Code to increase penalties for sexual harassment and create the crime of sexual harassment.
The political parties’ initiatives come shortly after the controversy surrounding allegations of sexual and moral harassment involving renowned researcher from the Center for Social Studies (CES) of the University of Coimbra, Boaventura Sousa Santos.
An investigation by Lusa in April showed that more than 150 complaints had been submitted to institutions in the north and south of the country in the past year alone.
The 19 institutions that responded – eleven universities and eight polytechnics – revealed that they had received 154 complaints about sexual and moral harassment, ‘pedagogical issues’ and cases of discrimination.
The responses showed that until then, only two institutions had punished the alleged aggressors responsible for four complaints: three teachers and one student.
Last year, dozens of allegations of harassment and discrimination were also made public at the University of Lisbon’s Faculty of Law, according to a report by the institution’s Pedagogical Council.
In the following weeks, new cases emerged in other institutions and this year the phenomenon came back into the spotlight with the publication of new cases at CES.
In April, the Minister of Higher Education announced that the services had received 38 complaints of sexual harassment over the past five years, of which only four led to sanctions.
As recently as 2022, the government advised institutions to create reporting channels and codes of ethics and conduct, but another study conducted by Lusa in April this year found that few institutions had already used these tools, and that in many cases the processes were still in full swing. their embryonic phase.
Source: DN
