Union: Exoneration in the Algarve ULS does not solve health problems

O president of the Union of Doctors of the South Zone (SMZS/FNAM) today said that the dismissal of the president of the Local Health Unit (ULS) of the Algarve will not solve the problems, defending changes of the policies of the Ministry of Health.

“ The big problem lies in the policies followed by the Ministry and it is not with the mere replacement of board chairmen that things will be resolved”, said the responsible in reaction to the discharge of the president of ULS/Algarve.

The resignation of the chairman of the board, Tiago Botelho, was announced by the Minister of Health on Monday, after three deaths were reported in the emergency room of the Hospital of Portimão.

The deaths again put under scrutiny the operating conditions of health services in the Algarve and the response of the administration of the Local Health Unit (ULS) of the region.

In statements to the agency Lusa, André Gomes, president of the Union of Doctors of the South Zone/National Medical Federation (SMZS/FNAM), recalled that the union “has long been alerting to the difficulties experienced” in health in the Algarve, having promoted a regional strike last year to draw the government’s attention to existing problems.

For the union leader, the resolution of the problems “requires a change of policy and a greater investment” in the National Health Service (SNS) and in the medical career, considering that “the replacement of guardians will not have results” if the current orientation of the Ministry of Health is maintained.

“ It does not matter what name is ahead of the institutions, but the policies they undertake and carry out,” he stressed.

André Gomes warned that if the new president of the Algarve ULS finds the same political conditions and guidelines, “health problems in the region will continue to worsen”.

The leader of SMZS/FNAM also rejected the possibility of solving the problems of the SNS “from one day to the next or in 60 days”, as he recalled, the current Government promised, arguing that, although the recovery may take several years, “it is necessary to begin to reverse the situation already”.

Among the necessary measures, he pointed out the strengthening of the career of health professionals, through better hours and wages and a regime of exclusive dedication with more attractive remuneration conditions, to encourage doctors to remain or return to the SNS.

In the Algarve region, André Gomes highlighted the lack of about 50 family doctors to ensure primary health care coverage.

The person responsible considered “particularly incomprehensible” that this year’s competition did not open any vacancy of General and Family Medicine for the Algarve, despite the identified needs.

“ There are instruments, it is up to the Ministry to put them on the ground”, concluded the union leader.