It will not be necessary to suspend the holidays of the Algarve's health professionals and, despite the request made to the workers of the Algarve hospitals to voluntarily postpone the absences scheduled until the end of the month, so far, no employee has done so.
The guarantee was given by Lacerda Sales, Secretary of State for Health, at the Hospital de Faro, where he was to participate in the ceremonies commemorating the four years since the creation of the Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve.
Last week, Paulo Neves, member of the Board of Directors of Centro Hospitalar Universitário do Algarve, revealed that a proposal was being made to professionals from different areas., through the service and nursing directors, so that they voluntarily postpone the vacation they have scheduled for the coming weeks.
According to the member of the Board of Directors of CHUA, the proposal to suspend vacations is not related to the increase in hospitalizations by Covid-19, although it aims to ensure CHUA's responsiveness at a time when the population in the Algarve more than doubles.
This measure fell badly both among representatives of physicians and among nurses.
In the first case, the Independent Doctors Union «regrets that this lack of planning means that doctors, who last year have already had their vacation suspended, once again have this problem. Impairing the family and their rest essential for correct decisions».
The Portuguese Nurses Union (SEP) considered the proposal “unacceptable” since “professionals have been working for a year and a half to respond to the pandemic, with reduced days off, many overtime hours and few vacations. They are exhausted and need to rest».
Questioned by Sul Informação, Lacerda Sales, who in his last visit to the Algarve had said that the possibility of postponing health professionals' vacations «for now, is not on the table», again insisted that this would not be necessary.
"I continue to say that it will not be necessary to suspend professionals' vacations," he said.
“What was done, and it seems to me very well, was, as a precautionary measure, (…) to redistribute or try to guard against this possibility [of postponing the vacation], if the health services came under too much pressure.
«As far as I know, and so far I don't think anyone has had their vacation suspended. And so I continue to affirm what I said last time,” said Lacerda Sales.
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