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Young doctors who have missed the National Access Test (PNA), carried out this Monday, due to being infected with covid-19, will have to wait another year to access the clinical specialty. The exam used to classify medical graduates does not include a second examination. People who were in prophylactic isolation were able to answer the test, in special rooms and provided they had tested the new coronavirus.
The examination regulations for access to medical specialties do not foresee a second call, so that medical graduates who have covid-19 (or another disease) do not have a new opportunity to take the exam. Questioned by the PUBLIC, the Central Administration of the Health System (ACSS) referred to the content of the Contingency Plan approved for carrying out the 2020 PNA, which establishes that “candidates who do not meet the requirements (…) will not be considered eligible ”. In other words, these young clinicians will have to wait for next year’s test to gain access to the specialty. However, they can choose to enter the general training internship, which corresponds to the previous calendar year.
Last year also “there was no second call,” recalls the president of the National Access Test Office, Serafim Guimarães. This year “Very few” doctors in this situation, said the same official, based on the information collected on Monday. However, just next Thursday ACSS will release the number of absences recorded in the 2020 PNA. Approximately 2,800 medical graduates signed up for the test; last year there were 2,587.
The National Entrance Test is the exam that replaced the old “Harrison”, which finished two years ago
Teresa Pacheco Miranda
The possibility of a second call in the ANP was ruled out “for economic and logistical reasons,” says the president of the National Association of Medical Students, Mar Mateus da Costa. The ACSS has to rent the spaces for the tests and the operation also involves hiring security guards, proofreaders, and developing various test statements, after which the young doctors respond randomly.
Contrary to what happened with the licensees who contracted COVID-19, ACSS, in conjunction with the General Health Directorate, ended up creating a solution, which was initially not planned, for those who were in prophylactic isolation due to having a contact of high risk with a “positive” case of the new coronavirus. In these situations, it was possible to perform the test as long as the young doctor was asymptomatic and had a negative test up to 48 hours before the test.
These people were transferred to a special room, in which the distance between squares was widened and the protection measures for the participants and the race guards were reinforced. Due to the pandemic, this year’s ANP was held in facilities other than the usual ones: Europarque, in Santa Maria da Feira, for doctors from the North, Cases de Coimbra, for clinicians from the Center, and the International Lisbon Fair, for those of the South. The event is also held in the Azores and Madeira. It was necessary to look for larger buildings to guarantee the physical distance between those registered.
This solution was not feasible for positive cases for covid-19, because the law only allows patients to move to receive medical treatment, with no other exceptions.
The PNA ran for the second time with the current model, which replaced the old “Harrisson” as a form of selection to access the specialty. According to Serafim Guimarães, “an effort was made” to adapt the test to the criticisms made by young doctors last year, who consider it too long, even considering that they have four hours to answer the statement.
