The Minister of Health recognized this Tuesday, February 28, that there is a deficit of child psychiatrists in the National Health Service (SNS) in relation to needs, estimating that around 200 specialists would be needed and there are 132.
The newspaper Público reports today that there is a shortage of child psychiatrists and other technicians in the SNS and that there are hospitals where the waiting time for an appointment amounts to 200 days and more beds are needed.
Asked about this situation on the sidelines of a visit to the emergency department of the Fernando Fonseca Hospital, which serves the municipalities of Amadora and Sintra, Manuel Pizarro assured that they are working to expand the service to mental health issues, but clarified that these problems do not are only treated by specialists in child and adolescent psychiatry.
The minister added that these specialists «are needed, fortunately, only for the most serious and complex cases, with many other cases that can be treated by family doctors, by psychologists in health centres, which need to increase more, and for other health professionals”.
«Fortunately, most cases do not need the intervention of a doctor of that specialty, because that is indeed a constraint», he said, acknowledging that there are «fewer child psychiatry doctors in the National Health Service in relation to needs».
Manuel Pizarro said that they are training more doctors, but they have to do training and be able to attract these doctors at the same time, with some regions of the country having more significant needs.
The government official also stressed that the community mental health teams are "increasing a lot", adding that, through funding from the Recovery and Resilience Plan (PRR), 10 new teams were created in 2022 and 10 more will be created this year.
On the other hand, he said, the recruitment of psychologists is increasing, which "is still not enough", despite the fact that in the last three years 90 psychologists have entered health centers and in the last six years 1000 psychologists have been admitted to schools.
«This means that we are aware of this problem and the need to respond» in this area, concluded Manuel Pizarro.
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