Medical leaves can be issued in emergency services and in the private and social sector from March 1st, when new rules in this area come into force, according to a statement from the Ministry of Health.
Until that date, sick leave requires a consultation in primary health care, but the Government decided to extend the type of issuers to guarantee “a more adequate response to the health conditions of citizens, reducing bureaucracy in procedures that represented additional pressure on health services. health", according to a statement.
Exception for short-term sick leave (up to three days) which since May 2023 can be made on a self-declaration basis, with 303.700 self-declarations of illness having been issued since then.
In relation to certificates issued since January 1st of this year, the decree-law amending the disability assessment regime for people with disabilities was published in the Official Gazette.
The new regime establishes that «medical certificates of multipurpose incapacity remain valid until a new assessment is guaranteed, thus ensuring the attribution and maintenance of social, economic and tax benefits that have been recognized for citizens with disabilities».
In view of the new organization of the National Health Service (SNS) into Local Health Units (ULS), the Government established that medical boards will now be provided on the initiative of these entities, and there must be at least one medical board for each of the 39 ULS , which will allow for greater coverage of responses at national level”.
It was also incorporated into the law, and definitively, «the rule created during the pandemic to protect cancer patients, guaranteeing them the automatic attribution of a minimum degree of disability of 60% within a period of five years after diagnosis, without the need the medical board must be present”.
In these cases, «confirmation of incapacity and issuance of medical certificates of multipurpose incapacity must be carried out by a specialist doctor from the health unit where the diagnosis was made, different from the doctor accompanying the patient».
«Congenital conditions or others that confer a degree of permanent incapacity will also be exempted from the medical board, based on criteria to be defined by order of the members of the Government responsible for the areas of social security and health», reads the statement from the Ministry of Health.
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