The Algarve needed 67 additional doctors this summer but the Regional Health Administration reports that its latest recruitment drive has resulted in the hiring of zero new medics.
Undaunted, a new tender is being launched to hire 69 specialists for the region.
The Ministry of Health wanted to strengthen the Algarve’s medical provision with an influx of doctors between 1 June and 30 September but has failed completely.
The president of the Regional Health Administration of the Algarve says that cover will be ensured by current staff working overtime.
Unlike previous years, when the ‘special mobility order’ for temporary cover was published in early June, this year the notice went out on 26 June, seeking specialists in anesthesiology, cardiology, internal medicine, nephrology, neurosurgery, neurology, obstetrics, orthopedics, pediatrics, urology and general and family medicine - a total of 67 doctors.
"It is still a bit early to state the final balance (the special mobility order is in force until 30 September), but we have not had a significant accession. There were several applications for general and family medicine, but the periods and times did not fit our needs. For the hospital, we have had one application so far, but this person gave up," explained the president of Health Administration, Paulo Morgado, who acknowledged that the results are far from being what he would like and that “we will have to consider whether it is justified to continue with the initiative.”
Asked if the delay in the publication of the order may have had some influence on the result, he said yes, but conceded that the initiative last year also was pretty useless. In the first year this special mobility order was issued, 2015, seven doctors came to the Algarve: last year only four came.
The population in the Algarve grows from around 500,000 to at least 1.5 million in the summer months, with the Regional Health Administration assuring everyone that overtime will cover the gaps.
Pay can be raised if Finanças issues an exceptional authorisation allows. Last year, the Algarve’s public hospitals spent about €6.6 million on these exceptional enhanced payments. In the first half of this year, the cost already is nudging €3 million.
Paulo Morgado suggests that, "if the Algarve could have a package of incentives so as not to create inequalities with those already working in the region, it could make hiring more easy and compete directly with hospitals in urban centres."
In the meantime, medical staff and doctors, many of whom already are at breaking point, are being expected to work overtime even though the State issued a law that reduced their weekly hours to 35.
The Department of Health says that a plan is being implemented to strengthen services via an assessment of hospital needs that takes into account, "the different local and regional contexts, the structure of existing resources, the care profile, performance levels and the specific characteristics of each institution."
It seems the government's much trumpeted economic miracle is at the expense of its health service employees who are being forced to flout the law to maintain medical cover in the Algarve.
