The Minister of Health, Marta Temido, recognized yesterday the existence of an "organization problem" in the National Health Service (SNS) and considered that the Covid-19 pandemic dictated the postponement of reforms.
“The NHS, like all health services, has had extraordinary pressure over the past two years, but the problems are not new, many of them have considerable weight. We have an organization problem. In the context of the pandemic, a set of reforms that were associated with the Basic Health Law and the Government's program could not be carried out”, he said, not forgetting the contracts made since 2015.
In an interview with Telejornal, on RTP1, the government official stressed that this is the timing to move forward with changes, namely the new NHS Statute - which provides for a full dedication regime for doctors and an executive director for the management of the public health sector -, anticipating "quieter months", despite noting that the country is not completely free of Covid-19.
On the changes approved today by the Council of Ministers, Marta Temido emphasized the autonomy of hiring professionals for hospitals and regional health administrations (ARS). For hospitals, all types of contracts are possible, except for doctors, whose hiring will continue to be centralized in two annual competitions, while in the case of ARS, this autonomy is applied only to replacement contracts.
As for the new executive direction, the minister recalled that the «Ministry of Health is not only the ministry of the NHS» and that «a systemic concern is needed». On the other hand, he reiterated that this structure will have "more operational functions", following the British model for the respective public health sector.
«This structure is no longer a layer of direction, it is a structure that is intended to be agile», he summed up.
When asked about the rise of Covid-19 cases in several countries, Marta Temido noted that with the approach of winter "a phase in which the virus will spread more", due to the greater presence in closed spaces and less favorable conditions for ventilation, but he stressed that the incidence of cases at 14 days per 100 inhabitants in Portugal is only 85: «The European average is 190 and there are countries above 1000».
Comments