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Doctors and nurses unions believe that awarding awards only to health professionals who worked in the first phase of the new coronavirus pandemic will create inequalities. In statements to Public, union leaders questioned the government’s measurement criteria, approved on Saturday by the Council of Ministers, and argued that the number of professionals it serves is too small.
The awards cover professionals from the National Health Service who, during the state of emergency enacted in the first wave of the pandemic, performed functions directly related to Covid-19. They consist of the allocation of 50% of the basic monthly salary of the worker, paid in a single sum; one day of vacation for each period of 48 overtime hours; and one day of vacation for every 80 hours of normal work.
Guadalupe Simões, national director of the Portuguese Nurses Union, considered that “awarding the award only to professionals who were in areas dedicated to Covid-19 means very few people.” “One of the criteria is to award the award to the professionals who worked in the first and second line institutions during this state of emergency. The patients have spread to all the hospitals, ”the official told Public.
For Lúcia Leite, president of the Portuguese Association of Nurses, the criteria are also “limiting” and leave out, for example, professionals who worked with pregnant women in gynecology awaiting tests to be suspected cases. Noel Carrilho, president of the National Federation of Physicians, regretted that “for the limitation of rights such as vacations, assistance to the offspring, overtime, the universe is much broader than for the granting of compensation.”
Lúcia Leite also recalled that the measure comes at a time when the situation has worsened and when “the number of nurses in Covid-19 and intermediate areas is much higher.” “The award comes out of time and does not cover all professionals. Giving the prize only to the first slot is a poison gift and the way you handle it, the more poisoned it will be, ”he declared.
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