Marta Temido, the Government’s Minister of Health, said to press earlier today, Friday December 6th, that there is no shortage of doctors in the Algarve’s hospitals, despite cries for help from local doctors and politicians alike.
"It does not seem to me that there is a shortage of doctors at Faro Hospital and the University Centre Hospital," said the official, in statements broadcasted by Antena 1.
Despite this, both hospitals have been reported on by press as suffering from a shortage of professionals. For the minisiter, what she says is required is "to review scales and forms of organization", a vague solution which means very little in the face of the Algarve’s decaying healthcare system.
In the specific case of Faro Hospital, Marta Temido said that "this month's management plan is already complete, and if necessary and the internal teams feel unable to do their extraordinary work, there are alternative teams that can be called upon." These “alternative teams” that the minister refers to are no doubt the short-term medical professions who are contracted for a few days’ work and who then leave, making more money than the permanent employees whilst depriving patients of their continuity of care.
Marta Temido's statements come at a time when the difficulties of Portugal’s NHS in the Algarve have been a highly discussed topic. Yesterday, December 5th, the Faro Hospital Surgical Team chiefs publicly declined to work in the A&E from the 1st of January onwards unless changes are made.
Miguel Guimarães, the president of the Order of Doctors, was also yesterday in the Algarve, expressing "total solidarity" with the surgical teams’ cries for help.
Marta Temido dismissed their protestations, saying that the use of locum “service providers” is not desirable, but “we must first respond to the welfare needs of the population”.
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