There were only four doctors who joined the special mobility program that the Ministry of Health launched to strengthen the Algarve's hospitals between July and September. The measure, which is launched for the second year in a row, had even less impact than in 2016, when seven clinicians agreed to spend the summer in the Algarve region.
According to Diário de Notícias, four doctors in the specialties of anesthesia, orthopedics, neurology and general and family medicine are currently working in the Algarve, from Lisbon, Viseu, Bragança and Azores.
This information was provided to that newspaper by Joaquim Ramalho, chairman of the Board of Directors of Centro Hospitalar do Algarve – which will cease to exist tomorrow, being replaced by the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve -, who do not believe that there will be new adhesions to the program.
“The regime was announced at the beginning of the summer and those who were interested and had availability already showed it”, he considered.
Despite the weak adherence, Joaquim Ramalho makes a positive assessment of the measure. "In terms of direct cost, we can have here, on average, a savings of 20% to 30%", when compared to the costs of hiring health professionals by the hour", he assured.
“But there is another type of gain, which has to do with being able to count on a professional for a period and plan the stopovers with another security. On the other hand, they are professionals who are part of a team in their hospitals and there is a whole clinical practice that is easier to fit in with our teams», he added.
This program is aimed at doctors specializing in the areas in which the Algarve's National Health Service is most deprived, namely anesthesiology, orthopedics, gynecology/obstetrics, pediatrics, internal medicine, general surgery, nephrology and oncology.
Adherence to the scheme is voluntary, with the State giving as an incentive allowances between 50 and 200 euros, which are added to the salary already earned in their health units of origin.
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