The doctors' strike this Tuesday, July 2nd, is "one of the biggest that the Algarve has ever had". In the operating rooms of hospitals in Faro and Portimão, «attendance is 100%», guarantees João Dias, member of the regional secretariat of the Independent Trade Union of Doctors (SIM), which called for the strike.
Ao Sul Informação, this person in charge said that “in terms of scheduled surgery, everything is cancelled, whether in Faro or in Portimão».
“The operating theaters only work in cases of emergency or oncology surgery, provided by minimal services,” said João Dias.
«I have been in the outpatient area of the Hospital since 9:00 am Faro and I don't remember a strike where not a single doctor was seen entering the outpatient clinic. Patients come and go, with a role of rescheduling appointments. It is well over 90% adhesion, in terms of external consultation», he told our newspaper.
Also in the external consultations, in Portimão, João Dias still didn't have concrete data, but he said “they must be the same numbers”.
This strike also involves the Health Centres, but, there, «the adhesion seems to be lower», around 60 to 70%.
"The situation is being addressed with doctors hired from Latin America, who end up not feeling these needs of the staff of the institutions", justified the member of the YES secretariat.
This is a strike “by the National Health Service, with the population and not against it”. "We want better technical and human conditions, in order to provide an adequate response to the health needs of the region," he explained to Sul Informação.
Our newspaper also contacted the Hospital and University Center of the Algarve (entity to which the hospitals in Faro, Portimão and Lagos), which referred all the issues of the strike to the union: both in terms of membership and the number of closed services.
Some of the claims that motivate this stoppage are the reduction of time spent by doctors in the emergency room from 18 to 12 hours and for a longer time of consultations.
The strike, scheduled by SIM for today, goes on until this Wednesday, July 3rd, but tomorrow it is scheduled by the National Federation of Physicians.
Comments