The Independent Trade Union of Physicians (SIM) defended today, August 13, the need for "technical-scientific opinions to prevail over the politicization of the pandemic" and criticized the removal of the health delegate from Castro Marim, for the non-renewal of his service commission .
The union structure showed solidarity with the doctor and the population of Castro Marim and regretted that the regional health authority of the Algarve chose not to renew the service commission of the health delegate of the Algarve municipality, in July, when the region was hardest hit by a high incidence rate of Covid-19.
Classifying the non-renewal of the Castro Marim health delegate's service commission as a "euphemism for the dismissal by the authorities", adopted "without reasoning", the union also criticized the overload that the decision brought to the delegate's work. health of the neighboring municipality of Vila Real de Santo António.
«The SIM sends a letter today to the Minister of Health requesting the reasons, because, in addition to Dr. Mariano Ayala not having been replaced, this regrettable decision is overloading the already very busy Health Delegate of Vila Real de Santo António, harming his population and the population under the jurisdiction of the Public Health Unit of ACeS Sotavento [Sotavento Health Centers Group]», the union said in a press release.
The option is "even more serious" because the Algarve has been one of the regions of the country most affected by the new coronavirus, considered YES, defending that "technical-scientific opinions should prevail over the politicization of the pandemic", warning that "the political control of technical bodies' have given in the past 'bad results'.
Speaking to Lusa news agency, the secretary general of SIM, Jorge Roque da Cunha, stated that "this process is worrying, because in practice it represents a possible crime of opinion."
«A technical opinion, which came to be verified in the present informed, was not respected and was highly discouraged. Therefore, YES makes an appeal for all health authorities in the country to continue thinking and not to be mere transmission belts of political power», appealed the union leader.
YES also sympathized with the «institutions and organizations in Castro Marim that expressed their support» for the continuity of the doctor in office and regretted the «very unethical and opaque attitudes of the Coordinator Health delegate, who he himself denounced in court. , the Executive Director of ACeS and the Delegate for Regional Health».
The same source stressed that, according to the current legal framework, "health delegates are appointed in committee for a period of three years" and "may be renewed, upon proposal of the ARS [Regional Health Administration] and favorable opinions of the respective delegate coordinator and regional health delegate'.
SIM recalls that this regional authority, which has given the unfavorable opinion, is the same one that at a meeting with the Algarve health delegates (on 12/02/2020) explained that, «although the new coronavirus was not a threat important for Public Health - because China is far away -, health delegates should avoid thinking and stick to applying the rules," he criticized.
The union congratulated that "many health delegates" did not comply with these recommendations and continued "thinking and working, not devaluing the seriousness of the virus", and demanded that the situation "be redressed or that the dismissal be duly justified. of the Castro Marim health authority».
«The exercise of the functions of Health Authority cannot be an armed wing of political power, since that entity exercises the discretionary power of the State in defense of Public Health. The mechanisms for dismissal, reappointment and appointment must be transparent, substantiated and subject to challenge», argued the Union.
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