“ Nurses in exhaustion” protest for more professionals in Lisbon

Dezenas of “nurses in exhaustion” protested today in front of the Ministry of Health in Lisbon to demand the hiring of more professionals, better working conditions and “a strong and valued SNS”.

Convoked by the Portuguese Nurses Union (SEP), in the concentration, called “Protest Magusto”, the protesters prepare and eat chestnuts and shouted slogans as “health is a right, without it doing anything”, “Nurse nurses in exhaustion, require hiring” and “it is urgent and necessary to increase work”.

“ If yesterday in the storm we were essential, today we are also ", said one of the spokespersons of SEP to protesters, who held posters with phrases: “I have a right to personal life” and “to value nurses is to defend the SNS [National Health Service]”.

In the protest composed of SEP leaders, delegates and associates from all over the country, union president José Carlos Martins noted that “nurses perform millions of overtime per year.”.

José Carlos Martins told Lusa that “the nurses have hair standing” with the Ministry of Health” by not feeling recognized, including in times of crisis.

“ We are very essential, but they do not value and value it would soon solve the problems ", sustained the unionist.

The leader indicated that between 30 and 40,000 nurses are affected by the problems that have been growing as the lack of career progression and the non-accounting of points that contribute to progress in the profession.

“ It is unacceptable that the Ministry of Health continues without solving the central problems, and it is those that bring us here,” he added, and among the union's demands is also the payment of retroactives for the period between January 2018 and December 2021 and hiring more nurses.

The president of SEP also expects the Ministry of Health to arrange a meeting and to present proposals for solutions to the main problems and others.

In the protest, there was the nurse and union leader of Castelo Branco, Conceição Rodrigues, who told Lusa that many times in each shift a professional “must work for two or three more” who should be in service and “are not”.

Also the nurse and union leader of Setúbal, Pedro Lopes, told Lusa that it is affected by the lack of resources in the work.

“ The lack of material, the lack of working conditions, the increasing demand by the services, by the population and the fact that we have few professionals to meet the ever-increasing needs of our population,” said Pedro Lopes.

“ We reject any possibility of extending working hours. The lack of professionals resolves with more hiring and valorization, and not with the increase of the workload or the sacrifice of the personal and family life of nurses ", said the union, in a statement.