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“The context of the pandemic has generated a great alteration in the lives of the Portuguese and citizens around the world. Public health doctors have been at the epicenter, in a dedication to the fight against the pandemic that has been happening for almost a year. They are struggling with an enormous asymmetry in the resources available to the needs, and have suffered successive attacks on their technical autonomy and attacks on their professional dignity “, they point out.
The manifesto includes the signatures of more than two hundred doctors and internists in Public Health.
“Public health doctors will not fail to make their rights prevail, using, when appropriate, all the means at their disposal to defend their rights,” they underline.
However, despite the misdeeds they report, these doctors “reiterate its absolute dedication and commitment to the fight against the pandemic, standing by all health professionals and all citizens to try to solve the serious catastrophe in which we find ourselves ”, they guarantee.
A manifesto in seven points
One of the points highlighted by these health professionals is related to the need to materialize the “Long-term Public Health Reform”.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has made deficiencies and gaps even more visible in an area that has never really been the target of investment. The absence of long-term planning and thinking means that this area has critical shortage of human resources, facilities, equipment, absence of information system, and has seen its organization postponed due to the evolution of modern Public Health ”, they accuse.
The manifesto also points to the Successive trampling of “technical autonomy”, with “arbitrary decisions of different entities, which are detrimental to training, dignity and work” of public health physicians.
“The situations in which the answer is questioned multiply, with the implementation of solutions, supposedly collaborative and expeditious, that go against good practices and guidelines” of the Doctors in Public Health, they point out.
These measurements, which are said to be “Cosmetic” solutions, only point to “an apparent normalization of processes, without guarantees of protection of the health of citizens.” On the other hand, when there is a request for more resources to cover needs, these resources “are denied”, they accuse.
They still complain about being “Forced to perform bureaucratic functions that limit their availability and effectiveness in this fight” against the pandemic, that is, “obliged to attest to the physical limitations of a citizen for the purposes of accompanied voting.”
Professionals repudiate that “the Health Authorities are not paid their working hours for the issuance of these certificates, being the only elements in service on election days that are not paid by the National Electoral Commission, on the grounds of having availability permanent”.
In this manifesto they also regret the opinion issued by the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation “on the payment of overtime that does not recognize the undeniable right of any worker to be paid for the work performed.”
At last, Public Health doctors criticize that, although exceptionally, the “medical qualification” is no longer necessary for the exercise of the functions of the Health Authority.
On Tuesday, the government issued a decree that allows non-doctors to exercise the role of health delegates. Exceptionally, “the established medical degree in health care” can be dispensed with.
“It is essential to remember that Health Authorities practice Medical Acts and make medical decisions”, such as death verification for example.
Public health doctors warn that the relaxation of this requirement “It is another attack on the professional dignity of the Health Authorities, setting an unacceptable precedent, under the pretext of the pandemic situation we are going through. It is a red line that cannot be crossed ”.
