The Ministry of Health is working with Social Security so that certificates of temporary incapacity can be issued in emergency rooms at hospitals and also by private doctors, announced the executive director of the SNS.
«It makes no sense to make the patient, after going to the emergency room, have to go to his health center to ask for the Certificate of Temporary Disability [CIT]», said Fernando Araújo, who was speaking at the opening of the presentation of the Health Index Sustainable, developed by Nova Information Management School (Nova IMS), at Centro Cultural de Belém, in Lisbon.
Fernando Araújo also said that another of the measures being prepared is the extension of the CIT deadlines: “there are patients who, for example, had a stroke and who already know that they will be unable to work longer. It also makes no sense to force them to go to the health center every month».
The executive director of the National Health Service (SNS) pointed out several measures in preparation and others already applied to improve the functioning of public health services, speaking of a “silent revolution” in the SNS, namely in terms of organization, such as the extinction of Regional Health Administrations.
Another of the measures that Fernando Araújo said he was preparing, in this case with the General Directorate of Health, is the use of community pharmacies for Covid-19 vaccination in the next autumn-winter season.
The Sustainable Health Index concludes that investment in the SNS in 2022 allowed a return of 7,8 billion euros to the economy, thanks to the impact of health care on absenteeism and productivity.
According to the data released, this return was higher (over 300 million) than the value calculated in 2021 (7,5 billion).
Users' perception of the evolution of the SNS in the last decade is positive, but this idea is not accompanied by the judgment they make of waiting times for consultations, tests and emergencies, which they consider to have worsened.
According to the Sustainable Health Index, 38% consider that, compared to what happened 10 years ago, the SNS is better, but the waiting lists have not had a positive evolution.
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