Doctors officially throw support behind June 3 general strike; Cite “deteriorating conditions within SNS health service” Portugal s Northern Doctors Union, affiliated with the National Federation of Doctors (FNAM), has announced today that it is joining the general strike, scheduled for June 3 , not just because it disagrees with the government s proposed labour reforms, but because conditions with the SNS national health service are deteriorating. In a statement signed by the president of the northern doctors union and vice-president of the national doctors federation (FNAM), Joana Bordalo e Sá, the union explains that doctors are returning to the fray because “the situation has not only failed to improve” it “is getting worse”. The union notes that the SNS health service currently lacks around 800 family doctors, leaving approximately 1.6 million patients without an assigned general practitioner. It also stresses that many essential services, such as A&E departments, continue to operate on a “now we are open, now we are closed” basis. Meanwhile, the transfer of care to the private sector has grown “without any enhancement of doctors value,” says the union. As for the government s controversial labour reform, this involves “standard working weeks of up to 50 hours, unregulated schedules, imposed time off in lieu, precarious contracts, and attacks on parenthood, collective bargaining, the right to strike, and union action,” says the text. The organisation stresses that the so-called Health Pact only makes sense if it represents “a true commitment” to strengthening the SNS, its professionals, and public response capacity. “It cannot be reduced to the random approval of measures such as incentives for overtime above legal limits in emergency services through hourly block payments.” FNAM made it clear last week that government proposals fail to solve the shortage of doctors within the SNS , “and merely push professionals towards exhaustion”. The reaction followed theCouncil of Minister s approval of a decree-law regarding incentive payments for staff doctors working in emergency departments. Says the note issued today: the SNS requires “serious investment, full teams, stable contracts, dignified salaries, and fair working conditions.” Without these measures, the country s state health service “will continue to lose response capacity while citizens lose timely access to healthcare.” The union s statement comes on the day health minister Ana Paula Martins has reacted strongly to comments made by the president of the association of agency doctors who believes the government s approach to this service is akin to the “attempted murder of populations in the country s interior”. What Nuno Figueiredo e Sousa appears to have been trying to say was that the interior does not have enough SNS doctors to secure full-time response. Ana Paula Martins, however, has accused him of perjury , saying the government will now be studying Figueiredo de Sousa s remarks, with a view to taking legal action. Sources: LUSA/ SIC Notícias/